Chapter 55 - Hiring Bodyguards

There were lots of things for Arthur to do the following morning. He made an announcement online to hire some bodyguards.

It didn’t take long for a few people to message him, but the prices were quite... expensive. Most of them wanted something close to 10k dollars a month, and if Arthur wanted a bodyguard watching his apartment full time, he would need at least 2 of them working basically 12 hours each.

’So 20k dollars monthly just for me, plus someone watching over my family at the hospital...’

The hospital was quite safe. Arthur didn’t think they would target his family, since if they wanted to, they would have done it by that point. But him? Well, that was a different story. Someone was stalking him, and the next step could be stabbing him to death like last time.

’I have some good cash already from the game’s posts, and by next month I should have even more, so hiring 2 bodyguards now is doable.’

Arthur sat down with his laptop and read through all the messages and their resumes, looking for the best bodyguards to hire. It wasn’t that easy to pick the 5 best ones for an interview, taking him around 3 hours of reading to finally get it done.

He went to his closet to check his clothes. Someone hiring 2 bodyguards and paying them 10k dollars a month should at least look presentable. But the only clothes he had were hoodies, all casual.

The necessary money wasn’t just for the bodyguards’ salary. Arthur would have to at least buy some nice clothes and rent a place for the interview.

So, he picked up his bag and left his apartment. Finding a shop that sold formal attire wasn’t hard, but finding a suit that fit well was a different story...

The best option was to have it tailor made, but that took time, which Arthur didn’t have. So, to find a nice suit to wear for the interview, Arthur had to explore 5 different shops before finally finding something decent.

Black formal pants with a white shirt. His suit was dark blue, matching well with the rest. The quality was decent enough, and the most important part was that it fit his frame well. Nicely adjusted, no loose ends making him look weird.

Then, he looked for a room to rent for the day in one of the many company buildings in New York.

"We have a room suitable for interviews. It costs around 1000 dollars for the day," the woman behind the desk said, staring at Arthur, who was still wearing his casual clothes. The formal ones were inside his bag.

It fucking hurt to pay 1000 dollars for just one day, and they were certainly ripping him off, but Arthur hadn’t found many options near his house, and going too far sounded too tiring. So, in the end, he just accepted the loss.

"I’ll take it," he said.

The attendant still wasn’t quite convinced.

"It’s 1000 dollars for the day," she said again, acting as if Arthur hadn’t heard her the first time. "Do you understand? This is one of the best buildings in the area."

Arthur had some cash he’d withdrawn recently, so he took it out of his bag and put it on the table to make her understand he had the money.

He was just trying to flex and teach her a lesson, but in the end, with his casual attire and hard cash on the table, Arthur had to deal with the security and the police that showed up... They thought he had gotten that money illegally.

’I’m stupid, damn.’

When the cops heard he got the money from the game, they didn’t fully buy it either, but Arthur did have the receipts of the transfers coming from the game’s company, so there was nothing wrong. The police left after talking to him for like 20 minutes.

The necessary money wasn’t just for the bodyguards’ salary. Arthur would have to at least buy some nice clothes and rent a place for the interview.

So, he picked up his bag and left his apartment. Finding a shop that sold formal attire wasn’t hard, but finding a suit that fit well was a different story...

The best option was to have it tailor made, but that took time, which Arthur didn’t have. So, to find a nice suit to wear for the interview, Arthur had to explore 5 different shops before finally finding something decent.

Black formal pants with a white shirt. His suit was dark blue, matching well with the rest. The quality was decent enough, and the most important part was that it fit his frame well. Nicely adjusted, no loose ends making him look weird.

Then, he looked for a room to rent for the day in one of the many company buildings in New York.

"We have a room suitable for interviews. It costs around 1000 dollars for the day," the woman behind the desk said, staring at Arthur, who was still wearing his casual clothes. The formal ones were inside his bag.

It fucking hurt to pay 1000 dollars for just one day, and they were certainly ripping him off, but Arthur hadn’t found many options near his house, and going too far sounded too tiring. So, in the end, he just accepted the loss.

"I’ll take it," he said.

The attendant still wasn’t quite convinced.

"It’s 1000 dollars for the day," she said again, acting as if Arthur hadn’t heard her the first time. "Do you understand? This is one of the best buildings in the area."

Arthur had some cash he’d withdrawn recently, so he took it out of his bag and put it on the table to make her understand he had the money.

He was just trying to flex and teach her a lesson, but in the end, with his casual attire and hard cash on the table, Arthur had to deal with the security and the police that showed up... They thought he had gotten that money illegally.

’I’m fucking stupid. Damn it.’

When the cops heard he got the money from the game, they didn’t fully buy it either, but Arthur did have the receipts of the transfers coming from the game’s company, so there was nothing wrong. The police left after talking to him for like 20 minutes.

The attendant showed him the room, which was indeed quite nice. It was on the building’s highest floor with an incredible view of New York City. The huge glass behind the interviewer’s desk was just so impressive.

’I need to get enough money to live in these types of buildings. How much would the rent for an apartment like this be? Could I ever get the money to buy one?’ he wondered while looking through the window.

The attendant, a nice looking lady, apologized to him multiple times.

"I’m so sorry for the inconvenience," she said. "I needed to make sure you were not a criminal. That’s why security intervened and the cops were called."

She wasn’t in the wrong. Arthur knew that. He had just acted without thinking, and those were the consequences.

"No problem," he said. "Next time I’ll pay with my debit card."

The attendant smiled. "If you book with us again, I’ll give you half the price for this very same room. And if one day you decide to get the monthly rent, I can get it for you for 20k dollars."

Arthur didn’t know if she was giving him a monthly discount because of what happened, or if that was just the normal price and she was lying to make him think he was getting a discount. Probably the latter.

"Thank you," he said, smiling back at her. "I’ll be conducting some interviews today, so I hope you can direct them to my office when they arrive."

"Of course. I’ll call you when they’re here, sir."

She was much friendlier now that Arthur had paid for the room. Anyway, he sat on the comfortable chair behind the desk and placed his laptop on it.

Then, he messaged the people who had decent resumes, sharing the location of his office and the exact time for the interview.

To his luck, all 5 he chose to interview gladly accepted.

They would arrive in two hours for the interview. Arthur left his office to grab something to eat at the restaurant next to the building. There was no point in waiting there doing nothing.

He returned to his office and waited. The first call came.

"Two of them are here, sir. The one who arrived first is on the way up. Is that a problem?"

"No," Arthur replied.

He was already wearing his formal attire, ready to conduct the interview.

The first one knocked on the door.

"Come in," Arthur said.

The man was really tall, typical for bodyguards, being basically 7 feet tall and muscular. Next to Arthur, the difference was huge.

Seeing how the interview was being conducted inside a famous business building full of rich people and companies, the man was really respectful.

"Excuse me, sir," he said. "Can I sit?"

Arthur liked the treatment. Having money was such a good thing, even though he barely knew how he would pay for those bodyguards yet...