Shiller knows that Harley has always been very enthusiastic about forming superhero groups, her main idea being "whatever other universes have, we must have too," and regardless of good or bad, just get it together first.
Considering she is really wealthy, fulfilling this small hobby isn't difficult. At least for now, Victor's eyes are already glowing.
"Really? As much as 500,000?"
Harley nodded and said, "Not only that, but I can also advance your salary for a year to solve your current financial problems."
Victor couldn't help but applaud her.
A 500,000-dollar annual salary is quite a lot, especially during the millennium. Right now, Shiller's monthly salary is only a few thousand US Dollars; after tax and insurance, he takes home just over two thousand.
After the "pale knight" implemented the new tax law, even these two thousand dollars might require an extra one thousand dollars in tax payments. Even if the store's earnings stabilize, having a net income of three thousand dollars a month is a blessing from the heavens.
If Shiller does some additional psychological counseling, the annual net income could reach 50~60,000 dollars, which is considered a high-income middle-class group in America.
Someone like Victor, a scientific war god, can average an extra 50~100,000 dollars a year.
But this money isn't easy to earn; when the project's timeline isn't favorable, sometimes the project is delayed over and over again, potentially dragging out a two-year resolution. Some projects may simply be cut short halfway through.
Luckily, there are two of them, and earning a 150,000-dollar annual net income for the family shouldn't be an issue, which in America is no longer considered middle class, but rather rich.
However, they are now raising Billy, and even attending a public elementary school, all expenses are not cheap. The house they live in is large, requiring more property tax payments, plus the new tax law hits hard, making that extra 500,000-dollar annual salary particularly attractive.
For this reason, Victor has shown extreme enthusiasm. He rubbed his hands together and said, "Okay, when do we start? What do we do? Cause trouble for the Justice League?"
"No rush." Harley took another sip of soda and said, "First, we need to determine the member selections. I want to choose people based on the villain identities from other universes."
"What do you mean?"
"It's like recruiting counterparts who are villains in other universes; I want to bring them all together and form the strongest villain alliance!"
"Oh, I get it. In other universes, I'm Mr. Freeze, and most Mr. Freezes are villains, so I can join, right?"
"Exactly." Harley snapped her fingers and said, "That's the idea. You can only join if your counterpart is a villain in other universes. But not those niche villains; we want to find the most formidable villains."
"I do have a suggestion." Victor rubbed his chin and said, "What do you think about Oswald Cobblepot?"
"Penguin Man? It'd be great if he could join."
Victor immediately took out his phone, editing a message while speaking, "With the current economic downturn, the expansion rate of the Cobblepot Group has slowed down. He should be quite available; I'll invite him to dinner."
"Professor, then you… Professor? Professor! Are you discontent?"
"No." Shiller snapped out of it and said, "I was just thinking about how to spend that 500,000."
Harley rolled her eyes and said, "Do you have any recommended candidates?"
"How about Harvey Dent? In other universes, he's Two-Face. Although he hasn't been disfigured in this universe, he's still very professional in law. I think our team needs such talent."
"He should be discussing marriage with Christine soon, just when he's short of money. He'd probably be happy to join."
"A lawyer, huh? Alright, we might indeed need to solve legal issues. Contact him according to the offer I gave you."
Shiller nodded, also taking out his phone to message Harvey. After a moment, he added, "What about Scarecrow and Riddler?"
"Professor Crane?" Harley hugged her arms and thought for a moment, "I'm looking for villains, not unfortunate ones. Does his luck seem a bit too bad?"
"What's the name of the Riddler, again? Edward? Has the Riddler from our universe come of age? We don't want any minors here!"
"You can look for those two." Shiller said, "I don't know where Jonathan is, but I know Edward is in Arkham Mental Hospital, still recuperating. Whether you can hire him depends on his attending physician."
"Let me think who else…" Harley said while sipping soda, recalling various universe villain lists.
"Oh, there's Waylon!" Harley extended a finger and said, "He's always tinkering with his moving company; I almost forgot him. He's the famous Killer Croc; he must participate!"
"Did you forget someone important?" Victor asked, "How can we leave out the most famous Joker?"
"You mean Jack." Harley showed a troubled expression and said, "Jack is on a long trip; how could he have time to join?"
"Please, does running long trips for a year earn him 500,000? I dare say, as long as you offer the price, he'll definitely come back immediately."
"Makes sense. But then, wouldn't our organization have two Jokers?" Harley looked at Shiller.
"Don't look at me, I'm not a Joker." Shiller shook his head and said, "Can't I just be an independent supervillain?"
"Of course you can, Professor." Harley gave him a thumbs up and then added, "But what I mean is, my organization has two Jokers, so cool!"
"If you don't want to be a Joker, how about we bring over the one who's the mayor? He seems to be quite short on money too."
"Then why not go find the one doing stand-up comedy," Victor said. "He just finished his nationwide tour and wrapped up his TV show, shouldn't mind earning some extra cash."
"If I bring both of them in, wouldn't we have three Jokers then? That's insanely cool!" Harley wiggled in her seat and excitedly slapped the table.
"Oh, and there's Little Pa, she's Poison Ivy in other universes, but she's never worn his costume even once. This time I must have her make a customized new outfit."
Harley opened her phone and began browsing the homepage of various fashion brand websites to pick out styles.
Victor's phone buzzed, he waved it at Harley and said, "Oswald replied to my message, later on, we'll go grab some dinner together. If you have nothing going on..."
"Go ahead." Harley waved him off and said.
Shiller also glanced at his phone and said, "I arranged to have dinner with Harvey and Christine at the faculty restaurant..."
"You should go too," Harley said, "I need to call Pamela on video when I get home to ask for her opinion."
After the three parted ways, Shiller and Victor walked back together. At the fork in the road, Victor asked Shiller, "Aren't you going to the restaurant?"
"I did arrange with Harvey, but he said he's busy tonight and it'll have to be tomorrow noon."
"Alright, same for me. I scheduled dinner with Oswald for tomorrow, nothing much tonight."
"Shall we play some cards instead?"
"Sure."
Their silhouettes disappeared down the path leading to the activity building.
In front of the giant stained glass window, Pamela wrapped up the last bunch of dried flowers and placed it in a glass vase, dusted off her hands, and said, "Alright, this should be about right."
She stepped back a few steps, walked to Merkel's side, and assessed her masterpiece.
Shiller's shop was now almost fully furnished, with shelves neatly arranged and products displayed, even attracting a certain amount of foot traffic. Quite a few magic academy students, teachers, and wealthy people house hunting had already browsed the store.
Currently, the shop was divided into two sections; the right side sells specialties from the magic realm, with various beautiful stones, feathers, animal horns, and some rough handmade goods on the shelves.
The right side was specifically used to display various unique plants, some were specially collected from their hometowns by residents of the magical world, and some were created by Pamela.
More commonly, a combination of both, where creatures from the magical world brought in beautiful plants from their hometowns, which Pamela adapted with plant magic to fit the environment of the inner world so they could be displayed in the shop window for sale.
Near the stained-glass window were Pamela's dried flowers. Her dry flowers were truly unique, unlike those crumpled and dark-colored ones sold outside. The petals of the flowers lose moisture but still retain maximum stretch, with minimal color change, possessing the beauty of blooming and wilting.
Moreover, she researched and developed many unique flowers, like a flower with each petal having a different color, some flowers could emit a faint glow at night, some change colors with more sunlight exposure, and some could turn from red to blue or develop different patterns as they lose moisture.
These flowers were the most popular, those wealthy tourists from the outer world love to buy them. Buying isn't enough, though, they pay a high price to hire Pamela as a florist, bringing materials to their homes to arrange them.
Pamela straightforwardly signed a contract with Merkel; rather than being just a supplier, she effectively rented a corner of the store for independent business, required to pay fixed rent and a portion of the revenue.
However, the benefit was that Pamela could market her goods herself, attract the attention of wealthy patrons, and earn more delivery fees and service fees, while Merkel would watch over the goods, which could also be sold when she stepped out.
Because the store's merchandise was high quality, even during the initial days of trial operation, they achieved several thousand US dollars each day in sales, with many returning customers. Even some creatures from the magical world visited, like little elves and centaurs.
Of course, there were also some uninvited guests. Some from the magical realm didn't understand etiquette, yelling or rampaging within the store; also, some wealthy humans found little elves cute and tried to catch them with bottles or nets, only to be beaten up instead.
Most disputes were resolved by Merkel, those that couldn't were tamed with Pamela's vines, turning compliant without major incidents.
In front of the stained glass floor-to-ceiling window, layers upon layers of flowers were displayed. As the sky gradually darkened and the indoor lights came on, the flowery glow was more radiant and magnificent.
Even though not officially employed, Pamela would help clean the store or arrange the goods, which was a piece of cake for her. Vines grabbed a broom and vacuum cleaner, and it was done in no time.
After work, Merkel would drive Pamela home, a reciprocal courtesy.
Today, sitting in the car, Pamela received a call from Harley. After hearing about her plan, Pamela couldn't help but be tempted.
She had earlier obtained a lot of assets from Greed, transforming them into cash, amounting to millions, not only repaid her mortgage but had plenty left for tuition loans and living expenses.
But with the current economic downturn, bank interest rates were low, with no good investment opportunities. Without additional income, the money dwindles in value due to inflation and would eventually run out.
Pamela thought for a moment, deciding she should earn the 500,000 dollars, but as for the uniform designed by Harley, she'd rather design one for herself.