CHAPTER 460: CHAPTER 460: COUNTERMEASURES

Miss’s logo is a twin-tailed girl with thick lips from Euronia and Meridia. The packaging design directly uses its logo with different styles and colors of clothing, replacing the position of the game character in the original design,

without any sense of discord.

The products on Nirvana’s side have already entered the production line, and it’s impossible to go offline and adjust new formulations now. Regardless of whether there’s enough time, the cost of doing so is too high, and that money could basically bankrupt Nirvana. What can be done is to modify the packaging. Regardless of color or creativity, a completely new design is needed to avoid potential embarrassment after it hits the market.

Miss announced their product launch at 8 PM. Ruby Sullivan saw the advertisement at 10 PM and immediately contacted Howard. Before midnight, they calculated the maximum concession they could make and formulated a relatively complete compensation plan within an hour.

Early the next morning, Ruby Sullivan and Howard headed straight to the client’s office. They negotiated a new plan with the game’s side representative. Besides making concessions on Nirvana’s benefits, Ruby Sullivan also agreed to do a promotional perfume for a paid item for the client for free. Players who purchase the perfume can have a one-week trial privilege for the item.

Actually, this was a perfume that the client strongly wanted to add from the beginning, but due to disagreement on price and profit-sharing ratios, it was not previously agreed upon.

It was lunchtime when Ruby Sullivan and Howard came out of the client’s office, but Ruby had no appetite at all. In the end, Howard forced her into a tea restaurant, where she just stared blankly at the porridge in front of her, stirring it with a spoon.

Howard, with a cheerful smile, offered her a shrimp dumpling. Although he was now a big director with a presence of two meters and eight, he still, in private with Ruby Sullivan, loved to smile and make playful comments to lighten the mood.

"I think you should eat first before you worry."

Although they managed to convince the client after much negotiation, every promise made meant a huge workload, tasks that not everyone could complete.

Ruby Sullivan wasn’t worried about the impending crazy work mode, but she was a bit saddened.

Nirvana having a traitor... she found it hard to imagine.

She knew any company could have undercover agents, but she hadn’t expected one in Nirvana, just like she would remember every employee’s name and sometimes forget she was the boss of this company...

Ruby Sullivan sighed, showing a self-deprecating smile. She swallowed the shrimp dumpling whole, chewing hard. It took her a while to get it down, but it felt like she might choke herself to death. She stared at the porridge bowl in a daze, not speaking, not knowing what to say, and continued sipping her porridge after a while.

She really wanted to ask Howard if he had any leads on the traitor, but she didn’t want to speculate about anyone.

There were very few people who could steal the entire design. No matter who it turned out to be, Ruby Sullivan would be utterly heartbroken.

"Actually, this kind of thing can’t be accused of plagiarism, so Miss’s focus is to smear and damage Nirvana’s reputation. This is actually the least harmful attack in the business world; we should be grateful." Howard calmly analyzed the nature of the incident.

"

I understand..." Ruby Sullivan poked at her porridge bowl with a spoon, "As a boss, caring more about betrayal at this time than profit, am I too unqualified?"

"It’s fine, you’re a perfumer. If one day you become someone like Mr. Sterling, with an ethereal temperament, it would be a deadly blow to Nirvana."

Howard’s comfort was very apt, and seeing her face relax a bit, he continued, "But this incident was indeed our oversight, and we need to reflect."

"Yes." Ruby Sullivan nodded.

After the incident happened, she remained extremely calm, not panicking even when she saw that advertisement, instead doing all the necessary work immediately. Perhaps because the most troublesome problem had come to an end, all the irrational thoughts started to emerge.

*

In Ethan Sterling’s office, Snow placed a thick stack of investigation materials on his desk.

"The top one is the one I think has issues." After conveying this, she hurriedly left.

The boss’s mood was not pleasant, and the office was turning into an ice cellar. Even in the height of summer, it couldn’t withstand such a chill.

Ethan Sterling had a grim expression, though his facial features remained impeccably handsome. But his piercing gaze inexplicably reminded people of the King of Hell, and looking at him for too long set hearts racing unsettlingly.

He opened the first document, his gaze falling on a work experience entry: Worked at The Lawson Group for one year as a perfumer’s assistant.

Ethan Sterling’s face turned extremely unsightly. He buzzed the internal line to Snow, "Prepare a list of all The Lawson Group’s partners."

"All?" Snow wondered if she had misunderstood, considering the extensive list.

"Yes, all."

"Yes." Snow hung up and rose to arrange the work with the secretary team, appearing decisive on the outside but somewhat worried inside.

Meanwhile, after Ruby Sullivan and Howard arrived back at the company, they began taking action separately.

Rumors were already spreading within the company, and since Ruby and Abigail Hollis hadn’t shown up in the morning, nobody was in the mood to work all morning, all hoping Ruby Sullivan would come to dispel the rumors.

Ruby Sullivan found the designers and demanded a brand-new design set within two days, along with a matching item design.

The main designer, Belle, gasped after hearing that. "Boss, you’re not joking, right?" Seeing Ruby’s expression and confirming it wasn’t a joke, she slumped in her chair, "Boss, I feel like even if the three of us don’t sleep for two days, we can’t finish this task."

She wasn’t lacking confidence in her design; it’s just that the previous design had already consumed so much of her passion. Now quickly coming up with another set, completely different in concept, was really a bit challenging for a designer just two years into her career.

Ruby Sullivan slightly furrowed her brow, almost showing her displeasure to the employees for the first time, "This is an unforeseen circumstance. You have to do it whether you can or cannot. If you’re not satisfied, you can leave. I didn’t hire you to tell me what can’t be done."

After saying that, she walked away, her mind already transitioning to Plan

B.

The three in the design department were stunned. They’d never seen the boss so stern; in fact, it was the first time realizing that the always smiling beauty before them wasn’t just a regular colleague, but the owner.

Belle reacted and scrunched her features together, clearly unhappy with Ruby Sullivan’s words, muttering complaints, "Leave if you want, I’m not afraid! I’m not bound to work here!"

The girl next to her nudged her chair over, "Jade, are you resigning?"

Belle glared at her, "Us three producing a new plan in two days is impossible."

The girl was a recent graduate and usually went along with Belle’s decisions. Being glared at unexpectedly made her a bit upset, so she rolled back to her workstation, "Aren’t there a lot of discarded drafts? Just modify them for use; it’s not our fault the design got stolen."

"You’d better use your time complaining to think about the design," Luke, who had been silent, reprimanded in a low voice and went out with his water cup.

He was the only male in the design department, and although he was quite handsome, he didn’t get along too well with the two female members due to his somewhat difficult personality.

"If you’re so great, you go ahead and design," Belle rolled her eyes again.