Nemona apologized very quickly, and Zoroark also hastily expressed its own apologies. After all, it was indeed Zoroark who had tried to scare Nemona first, which directly led to the chain of events that followed.
"Director Edward, could I ask for your autograph?" Nemona, ever the straightforward and cheerful type, had already completely tossed aside the fear she had just experienced from being scared by Zoroark. This caused Edward's eyebrows to twitch slightly.
"Of course," Edward replied with a warm smile. He had practiced signing his name deliberately—after all, as the future heir to the Devon Corporation, Edward was used to signing his name frequently.
Nemona pulled two movie tickets from her pocket and handed them to Edward. He took them and gave them a quick look. These tickets were intricately designed and appeared to be collectible ticket stubs. They were quite different from traditional movie tickets and were clearly crafted with care, using high-quality materials.
Edward was slightly surprised. These collectible stubs were likely a promotional idea from the theaters themselves. However, according to the agreement, any additional revenue generated in this way would still be shared proportionally with Ghost Films Pictures.
Taking out his pen, Edward neatly signed his name on the tickets. Nemona happily tucked them away.
"My sister is also a fan of yours, Director Edward!" Nemona said with a big smile. Edward nodded in understanding—no wonder she had brought two ticket stubs.
"Mr. Edward, your work is a phenomenon in the Paldea region," Yellow added with a laugh. Edward felt a little embarrassed hearing that, but deep down he was also quite pleased. Being liked and appreciated by others was, after all, something to be happy about.
Once the contract was signed, Yellow prepared to leave. Edward, ever the gracious host, warmly invited both Yellow and Nemona to have lunch together before personally seeing them off to the airport.
Nemona initially seemed reluctant to leave. But then she received a phone call informing her that a new Champion challenger had emerged in Paldea. Only then did she agree to return.
Edward wasn't surprised by this. Nemona's character had always been battle-obsessed—she was the classic "battle maniac." Even in the games, players often encountered Nemona for spontaneous battles. She showed a keen interest in the protagonist, and after being defeated by the player, she even expressed a desire to become their rival.
In fact, having a strong rival is practically a hallmark of every Pokémon game installment.
"You rascal, you almost got yourself beaten up just now, didn't you?" Edward shot Zoroark a half-exasperated glance once Nemona and Yellow had departed.
"I really didn't expect Miss Nemona to be that intense," Zoroark said with a wry smile, rubbing its nose. Edward gave it a sideways glance and noticed that Zoroark seemed rather confident. He suspected that if he hadn't stepped in to stop the battle, Zoroark probably had a few tricks of its own to deal with Nemona's Greninja.
This piqued Edward's curiosity about Zoroark's actual strength. Ever since Zoroark had taken on the role of his secretary, it had never once revealed its battle capabilities. Edward truly had no idea how powerful it was.
But considering Zoroark's impressive illusion abilities, Edward figured that this Zoroark of his likely possessed more than just tricks—it probably had some serious combat skills too.
"When the new phone model launches, ask around and see how many employees at the company want one. Let's get enough for everyone and distribute them as a company benefit," Edward instructed, putting aside his curiosity about Zoroark's battle prowess. After all, as a secretary, Zoroark was proving to be very effective. Unless something major happened, he had no intention of replacing it.
"Understood. Should I get the flagship model, the standard model, or the youth edition?" Zoroark dutifully jotted down the task and asked for clarification.
"Of course, just the standard edition," Edward said without hesitation. The flagship version was double the price of the standard one. When it came to employee benefits, giving out the standard model was more than sufficient. The box office earnings for One Missed Call were looking good on opening day, but Edward had quite a few expenses coming up. Naturally, saving where he could was the smart move.
Zoroark made a note of it. The standard edition phone was fine. Though it had no personal need for a phone, Zoroark could always sell it and make a little cash. That way, it could fund its own in-game purchases again.
With the collaboration details settled, Edward returned to the company and had the promotional department release a teaser announcement on the company's official website.
The Rotom Company would also be doing its part in promoting the product, which meant the hype could begin early. Edward fully supported this move—after all, any collaboration like this could help drive new traffic to the movie.
Undoubtedly, there would be people unfamiliar with the film who would wonder why a smartphone was linked with a horror movie. If curiosity led them to watch it, the ticket sales would get a nice boost, wouldn't they?
Edward also had a broader idea. He wanted to push for the concept of screening movies for wild Pokémon to be adopted across the entire Pokémon League. If that happened, he'd be able to harvest an enormous amount of Fear Points. Although the investment required would be significant, the potential returns were equally massive.
Right now, Fear Points could only be exchanged for one thing: Fear Candy. But just this one item was already valuable enough to justify Edward throwing a ton of money into the system.
If Fear Candy could be developed into something like Steel Candy—something his brother would find useful—then it would be worth billions. A single candy could fetch one hundred million. And his brother wouldn't even hesitate to buy it, because this was a miraculous item that could increase base stats—something that existed nowhere else in the world. Edward would essentially have a monopoly.
But if he followed the old Devon Corporation method—brute-forcing progress with money—he'd need to invest at least 500 million per region. Currently, the League had eight established regions, and rumors were circulating that a ninth was in development, although there was no official news yet.
Excluding Hoenn, that still left seven regions requiring investment. That would be a total of 3.5 billion.
That wasn't a small figure.
Even though Devon was wealthy, Edward wouldn't be able to justify dropping 3.5 billion to show horror movies to wild Pokémon without presenting a solid, strategic reason. His father would never approve the expenditure.
So Edward had two options: either make the money himself, or come up with a way to convince the League to willingly promote and distribute the films on their own initiative.
"But there's also the issue of content," Edward muttered to himself, as another problem came to mind. Lights Out, the horror short film currently being shown in Hoenn, was probably nearing the end of its run. It was time to begin production on a new horror movie.
Lights Out was certainly terrifying, but wild Pokémon who had seen it once would be startled—maybe even twice. But after the tenth viewing, the scare factor would fade. So, to ensure a steady stream of Fear Points, Edward needed to start making more short films or even full-length features to fill the gap.
However, One Missed Call wouldn't be suitable for adaptation into a Pokémon-special version. After all, wild Pokémon didn't use phones—they wouldn't understand the plot.
Hannibal? That was out of the question. If he tried to this TV series, the League would never allow it. If wild Pokémon started imitating the crimes depicted in the series, Edward would be in serious trouble.
So, short horror films were the best option. Edward made up his mind: he would begin working on a new one soon.
(End of Chapter)