The Butler's Master

Exile - Part 3

[Exile – Part 3]

What Kay meant by 'managing the business' seemed to sound very different from what Kyren was used to.

True to his promise, after Kyren had recovered fully from his fever and with his wounds more or less healed, Kay had wasted no time to bring folders and files in relation to his business once Kyren was well enough to work. Kyren had not been allowed to step out of the house while he had still been nursing an illness but now that he was better, he found himself being kept entirely busy from day to night in the apartment reading up on the information that Kay had gotten back.

Through days of hard reading that made Kyren remember his days of studying and the teachings of his many tutors, the young boy began to realize that Kay was not just any simple businessman. He had initially thought Kay was just the sole owner of a small online business that dealt with moving items from place to place upon request and order. It seemed small enough for one man to do many things –calculating finances, managing personnel, designing marketing strategies and other business strategies. But as Kyren began to delve in deep to understand the business –and trying to understand the personality of the man responsible for the business through his company policies and rules –Kyren saw things that he had never seen before. He saw cases and things that had never appeared in his lessons as case studies, things that he never knew was possible when he had been entrusted with a small part of the family business by his mother.

"Kay, I think there is something wrong with the calculation here." Kyren announced as he spun the file that he had been reading up on around, pointing things out to the man who had eventually made it a habit to join him at the low table in the living area late at night, typing furiously on his laptop.

"Good of you to catch it." The man turned his face back to his laptop after a brief moment of checking. "It was a test."

"Then this company? Is it supposed to be a test for me to catch the fact that they were doing something outside of their contract boundaries and billing you for it?" Kyren moved his finger further down the page to point.

"Yes. But you seemed to miss this." Kay answered, slender finger pointing further up the page to a small detail. "An employee resigned on the 5th of April, but her name appears again the next month arranging a meeting with an interested investor."

"Right." Kyren nodded with realization. He had initially been confused and annoyed when he first found out that the mistakes and discrepancies within the reports and filings were all tests from Kay. He had been rather annoyed since Kay had been trying to extend some faith in him by having him read through his business files, but at the same time testing him like he was some sort of an intern.

Still, Kyren kept those words to himself since he needed to obey instructions if he wanted a shelter over his head, water to drink and food to eat. And, over time, as he began to point out more mistakes –and have more pointed out to him that he never noticed or simply never knew about, Kyren began to find it... fun. The boring lessons that he had once taken about the different types of infraction of financial and labor law were now applying as he read through report after report on different projects of Kay's business. Finding out mistakes slowly became a welcome challenge, became something that Kyren began looking forward to. He poured through reports and filings with eagerness to prove that he had learnt, always glad when the mistakes he pointed out were correct and always eager to prove that he could do better when any missed mistakes were pointed out to him.

"Why is the financial statement of the previous year filed together?" Kyren asked, frowning at the information popping out at him.

"Because that year, the finance team could not close their accounts in time for filing." Kay answered evenly, still typing furiously on his laptop. Kyren had long gotten past being impressed at the man's ability to multi task extremely well –Kay had even shown his ability to type on his laptop with one hand and make notes on paper simultaneously with his other hand.