Road to be the Best Chess Player in the World!-Chapter 390: Their Next Tournament?! (II)

"Good question, Shev. That is going to bring you far in the future." Irfan nodded in approval before turning stern to the girl. "This is also going to be a lesson for you, girls. Don’t just agree with anything that looks good, even from the person you know well. Remain skeptical, because if something is too good to be true, it should have a hidden meaning or problem behind."

"Um?!" This startled the three girls in front of him, not expecting the man to suddenly be harsh like this. Seeing them surprised, Irfan couldn’t help but sigh.

"Sorry, I should’ve explained to you first." He apologized quickly. "I know that after winning the Olympiad, getting invited left and right allows you to feel like a superstar. However, you might as well think that you are a superstar right now, because the impact is not just in the event invitation. No, a lot of brands want you all to endorse their product, and this ticket is also the result of that."

"Wait a second," Sheva interrupted. "A brand bought us four tickets to an elite tournament?" He asked incredulously.

"Yeah, and they all come to you?!" Bagas added, feeling insulted. He always acted as everyone’s manager, and even though no one spoke about it, they silently agreed, knowing that the boy had done them justice. So, to hear the brands didn’t go through him was definitely an insult to his status here.

The girls themselves were still quite overwhelmed by this. They somehow forgot that being a star didn’t just mean they would get a tighter schedule, but the money would also flow faster into their account.

"Wait!" Laysa suddenly remembered something. "Does that mean we also get the appearance fee for all the events that we went to this week?" She asked.

In return, Bagas just looked at her like a stupid person. "Of course, it is. I have already shared the calculation with you, and the money has already been sent to your bank account. Have you ever checked it?" For that, Laysa’s face flushed red. Indeed, she herself hadn’t checked her account for a while. The busy schedule really made her forget about everything else this week.

"So, a lot of brands want to strike a deal, and they didn’t even contact me?" Bagas ignored her, still fuming over this situation. "What brands are they?" He asked, inwardly starting to take a note about it. He was not that petty to reject them all straight away, but he would never forget this humiliation for the rest of his life.

"Well... maybe it is because they are still registered as members of my club, so they ask me first about the situation. Some top brands like instant coffee, fast food, and even small companies are on the list. However, these tickets come from..." Irfan paused, glancing at Bagas amusedly. 𝒇𝙧𝙚𝓮𝙬𝙚𝓫𝒏𝓸𝓿𝓮𝒍.𝓬𝙤𝓶

"What?" Bagas frowned, not liking his expression at all.

"Well, this is from Garuda, and Mr. Arsya, one of their board directors, has so many colorful words that I wouldn’t say out loud about you."

Hearing the name, Sheva was startled for a second. However, his reaction was pale compared to Bagas, who looked like someone just told him that his cat died or some shit like that. All the color on his face was gone, as the blood seemed to be drained instantly.

Yeah, the man, Mr. Arsya, was Sarah’s grandfather, one of the old men whom Sheva met during his time with Wahyu Satyawan last week. At that time, the man said that while he couldn’t be Sheva’s main sponsor, he was willing to help him in another area, and Sheva remembered what he said with a casual tone.

’In fact, you can just invest your money in the other players. You know that Laysa Latifah and Anna Marisa also got the individual medal, right? Anna’s sister, Claudia, also holds the same potential, and the only reason she isn’t as good as the other two for now is that she is far younger. But give more time, and I am sure they would stand tall in the women’s chess world.’

That was his casual remark, but Sheva had never thought that Mr. Arsya would treat this seriously and be so decisive about it.

Bagas himself could only smile wryly when he heard the mastermind behind this. If the other brands might not know about his presence, the boy was sure that his grandfather-in-law was aware of his status here, and the man just stepped over his body to mess with him. The man sure had quite a wicked sense of humor, and he was probably laughing his ass off if he could see Bagas’s reaction.

"Garuda? The biggest airline in our country? Is this even legit?" Anna, who didn’t know Mr. Arsya’s identity, couldn’t help but feel skeptical. She took Irfan’s warning earlier seriously, knowing full well that with their status rising like this, any form of scams could knock on the door at any time, so remaining wary was definitely the best approach here.

"Don’t worry, for this one, I can tell you 100 percent that this is legit," Bagas said wryly.

"Um? How do you know that?" Claudia asked, a bit surprised. After all, Bagas was the first one who showed dissatisfaction with how those brands stepped over him, yet here he was, testifying that this sponsorship was legit.

Having no choice, Bagas finally explained his relationship with Mr. Arsya. When the girls heard that, they were dumbfounded at this coincidence. Well, it was not really a coincidence, since the man seemed to know what he was doing here. However, that didn’t stop them from laughing straight at Bagas’s face, especially when they looked at his sour expression.

"Yeah, you get beaten by your grandfather-in-law!" Laysa chackled mercilessly. "No wonder you looked so ashen earlier!"

Irfan himself was also surprised, but not that much. After all, with the colorful words that the old man said to Bagas, Irfan could guess that they should be pretty familiar with each other. After all, only family could insult each other so casually like that.

"So, does that mean we are going to Dubai next week?!" Claudia asked excitedly, bringing back the conversation to the original topic.

All the teens jolted instantly, as if they just realized this. Indeed, if this was legit, did that mean they were going to Dubai next week?

For that, Irfan just smiled and said, "Ask your parents first. If they allow you to go, we all will depart next Monday."