38. Kian

38

KIAN

J acki made a lot of sense.

The Eternal King's main objective was to hold on to his throne, and he didn't need an implant in his citizens' heads to ensure that. Why would he have made it easy for any mediocre bureaucrat to take over?

The king would have been murdered in a blink of an eye. The reason he was still in power after ruling for hundreds of thousands of years was that his people were mostly content, and no one thought that there was a viable replacement for the king. The only one who had ever come close had been his heir, Kian's grandfather. That was why the king had gone to such lengths to get rid of him while making it look as if he had no choice and was doing the right thing.

Manipulative, smart bastard.

As Atzil brought out dessert—a beautifully presented array of fresh fruits and pastries–Kalugal raised his glass in a toast.

"To new beginnings," he said. "And to the power of collaboration."

"We haven't even discussed InstaTock yet." Brandon leaned over and clinked his glass with Kalugal's. "But I'll drink to that."

Once everyone was done with the toast, Kalugal set his glass down and looked at Brandon. "Tell me what you want to do on my platform."

"You know what my job is, right?"

Kalugal nodded. "You are in charge of spreading the clan's gospel through movies, literature, television, etc."

Brandon's brow furrowed. "We don't preach, and we don't claim that our worldview is of divine origins."

Kalugal arched a brow. "I beg to differ. Where did the religions of old get their ideas from? And what shaped the monotheistic religions?"

Brandon leaned back in his chair and crossed his arms over his chest. "Not all monotheistic religions share the same principles and ideology. Surely you agree with me on that."

"Yeah." Kalugal sighed. "I do."

"Anyway," Brandon continued. "Ahn's idea of a free, self-governing society, with equal rights and dignity for all, was originally taught to the humans as a religion because it was easier and faster to do it that way. These days, influence is happening on social media, and that's what I want to do with InstaTock. I will provide the content, but I need your algorithm to push it to become viral."

Kalugal regarded him for a long moment, smoothing his fingers over his goatee. "What kind of content are you thinking of?"

"I'll start with influencers. Perhaps I'll use clan members for that. Good-looking people trend faster. I'll write the scripts for them and either film them myself or delegate this to Ella and Tessa. They are good at this. But I might also come up with some fresh ideas for different kinds of short-form content. Today's audience has the attention span of a gnat."

"I want to see each piece of content before you post it."

Brandon didn't look impressed by Kalugal's stubborn expression. "That might work in the beginning, but if it's effective, I plan to flood the platform with it, and it will not be practical in the long term. You will be spending your days looking at amateur-style videos."

"I'm great at delegating." Kalugal turned to Jacki and smiled. "Is that something you would be comfortable doing?"

"Sure. I would love to help turn the world into a better place. You were complaining about the hateful trash that people post on our platform."

"I was." Kalugal huffed out a breath. "InstaTock was supposed to be educational and motivational. But instead, it turned into a cesspool of depravity, and I'm not a prude. But some of that stuff is just wrong. I take down the worst offenders, but they find ways around the bots that look for trigger words. It's a never-ending pursuit."

"The answer is not to take them down but to make them less popular," Brandon said. "And also, to flood the platform with positive content, and I can help a lot with that."

"What about compensation?" Kalugal asked. "The platform makes me way more money than I have ever expected, and I don't want to lose the income."

"You won't," Brandon promised. "I have decades of experience producing content that consumers want to watch. Your ad income will grow, not shrink, and by a large margin."

"So, no payment for using my platform?"

Brandon laughed. "You should thank me for not charging you for all the content I'm going to provide you with that you can profit from."

"Tough negotiator." Kalugal shook his head, but it was more for show than real dismay.

Brandon was right, and the production costs of what he had in mind would have to be covered by the clan. If this was a deal between unrelated parties, Brandon could have charged a lot for the content.

"So?" Brandon arched a brow. "Do we have a deal?"

Kalugal nodded. "Six months trial. If we all get along and it works as well as you expect, we can negotiate a longer-term contract. If not, we part ways as friends."

"Deal." Brandon offered him his hand.

After shaking it, Kalugal turned to Kian. "Should we shake on it as well? After all, Brandon works for the clan."

"Sure." Kian shook his hand. 'Do you want to draw up the contract, or should we?"

"I'll do it. I want to spell out everything so there will be no misunderstandings."