Welcome to Students Incorporated. I'm your host,
Mr. Jason. Join me weekly as my team and I produce
content that's informative, positive, fun, and
uplifting. This podcast is created and produced
with the help of students from the International
Community School of Bangkok. Hello everyone and
welcome back to the podcast. I'm your host, Mr.
Jason, and today I'm joined by my co -host Mia
and Frank again. We have a fun lineup for you
today as we get near our final episode of Season
3. In Segment 1, we sit down and talk with Mr.
Task, VP of Business Development, Digital Marketing,
and Social Commerce at Central Retail Corporation.
Mr. Task will share some insights into the ever
-evolving retail landscape. Then don't miss Part
8 of Legends of the Yucatan, where the adventure
continues with our unlikely heroes. But first,
let's hear our quote of the day and get some
headline news. Our quote of the day comes from
Gary Vee, a prominent entrepreneur and digital
marketing expert from Belarus. He quoted TF said,
content is king, but context is God. The quote
highlights that high quality content alone isn't
enough. It must be delivered with relevance.
Understanding audience preferences, platform
culture, timing and trends is essential. Context
amplifies the content's impact, making it resonate
deeper and achieve stronger engagement and lasting
results. And that's our quote of the day. Now
on to some headline news with Mia. Thank you
for the quote of the day. For today's headline
news, we have some information about digital
marketing in Thailand. First off, Thailand's
digital advertising expenditure is projected
to increase by 10 % in 2025, reaching approximately
35 billion baht. This growth is attributed to
a recovering economy and intensified competition
within the digital sector. Notably, TikTok is
expected to surpass YouTube, becoming the second
largest platform for digital ad spending after
Meta's Facebook and Instagram. The skincare industry
continues to lead in digital ad investments with
significant contributions also from the automotive
and non -alcoholic beverage sectors. Next up,
industry experts emphasize the increasing role
of artificial intelligence or AI. marketing strategies.
AI enables hyper -personalized marketing by analyzing
extensive data sets in real time, allowing brands
to tailor content and product recommendations
to individual preferences. This approach aims
to enhance customer engagement and foster brand
loyalty. Additionally, the rise of AI -generated
influencers is noted as a transformative trend,
offering consistent and data -driven audience
interactions. Finally, for today, a digital marketing
firm underscores the potential for Tai's small
and medium -sized enterprises, or SMEs, to expand
through strategic digital marketing. With the
Thai e -commerce market projected to surpass
$1 trillion by 2025, SMEs are advised to adopt
tailored marketing strategies to capture a larger
market share. Currently, large brands dominate
over 70 % of the market, indicating substantial
growth opportunities for SMEs that effectively
utilize digital advertising tools. And that ends
our headline news for this episode. Thank you
for the quote in the headline news. For the first
segment, we have the privilege of talking with
the VP of Business Development, Digital Marketing
and Social Commerce for Central Retail Corporation,
Mr. Task. Central Retail has a business presence
in three countries now, Thailand, Vietnam and
Italy. If you live in Thailand, then you may
recognize some of the brands Central Retail represents,
such as Central Department Stores, Super Sports
Retail Outlets, Robinson Department Stores, Topps
Grocery and Topps Market, Big C, Tai Watsadoo,
Power Buy, B2S, Office Mate, and several others.
All right, to get us started, Mia will kick off
this segment with our... Hello and welcome to
the show. Thank you so much for taking the time
to be here on the Students Incorporated podcast.
So to get us started and also for the sake of
our listeners, could you please introduce yourself,
share about what you do and then what your career
journey looked like? Okay, so my name is Has.
So I think it's a very pleasure to meet you here
today. And like, ICS is not just any school.
To be honest, like, it's also where I grew up.
I used to study kindergarten to seventh grade
in ICS. It's like being back home again. So to
give you some background, I've been studying
in economics, also in supply chain and law. So
I have two bachelor's degrees and one master's
degree. I used to work in many corporates like
on Colgate -Palmolive. Nestle, True Corporation,
Google. And then my current role is working at
the head of digital marketing, social commerce,
and business development at Central Retail. So
under the Central Department Store and the Robbins
Department Store. So that's a big update from
my side. Wow, those are definitely some great
experiences you've had. And you have two masters,
no, sorry, two bachelors and one master. That's
a lot. But yeah. So from your perspective and
experience, how has consumer behavior changed
over the years and how can businesses adapt to
those challenges? I think consumer behavior has
changed quite a lot because before, right, we
have only multiple touch points in terms of like
communication and media, right? People start
with like one TV and that every communication
touch point was starting from there. But then
as times and then nowadays, right, you start
to see a lot of like multiple touch points in
terms of digital, like TikTok, growing up Facebook,
or even like YouTube and Sarah, people can start
learning apart from just waiting from television.
So their behavior, your scope of work, it's changing.
And do you know that like the attention span
of human being right now, even in Thailand, it's
about 10 seconds, much less than ghostish. So,
I mean, how do you adapt these challenges and
change? with a lower attention time span. And
that's, it's how we need to making sure that
our plans are being relevant and real time to
the consumer. Yeah. Yeah. So that's what I'm
thinking that from one to multiple and two, you
start to be more like presentation because I
mean, every people is different, right? And it's
not just one key fits all. So you have to actually
think beyond on how you could scale at mass.
and also personalize these things much more faster
and much more competitive in the market right
now. Yeah, yeah, for sure. Because I do think
that there's so many like multi -channels, especially
when like, hey, you're scrolling on TikTok, you're
scrolling on Instagram, there's like ads everywhere.
So yeah, I think for one, like I... I'd say it
is really good for businesses to sort of expand,
but also for like consumers because you get so
much like scope of ads. And then it's like, oh,
like maybe I want to buy this. Maybe I want to
buy that. So, yeah. And now that we're talking
about marketing, in your opinion, in what ways
can a well -executed marketing plan build a stronger
customer relationship? Yes, I think marketing
plan, the backup is actually based on creating
rents or creating relevancy. or creating the
value proposition to make it resonate with each
consumer. So if you have created a well -executed
marketing plan, that would definitely make people
become more aware of your brand, consider your
brand, or even convert, and also drive loyalty
or advocacy for your brand, right? So the more
you invest in these things, and the more relevancy
with the consumer in your hand, it will eventually
become more or less expensive. and could create
more like a lifetime value proposition with the
end consumer. So I think, and this marketing
plan, meaning that you just not do only communication,
right? But it's all of the marketing factors
like 4P, sales product or promotion, pricing,
et cetera. That's the first part. And ensure
that you mix with the communication because sometimes
you have a good product, but people don't know.
Or sometimes you have a good product, but no
good branding. People don't believe you. So all
these things have to be, Yes, definitely. And
I definitely agree that relevancy is a crucial
thing that will either make or break a brand.
But yeah, so now let's move on to a similar topic.
Now that technology is reshaping retail every
day, how can businesses integrate data and digital
tools into their operations? Yes, that's a good
question. I think technology is actually reshaping
retail every day. It starts from using Chai TKT
to getting some insights. This is the first stage
of planning. And then when you're starting to
execute them, You're using like AI or even like
marketing solutions or even technology to making
you execute these things much faster and much
more efficient. And also when you, once you execute
those plans, right, you cannot just execute without
getting some kind of a record back, like how
does it perform? So that this will lead back
to how you will improve your plan and execution
better. That's the first part when... From a
business side, that helps to execute your plan.
But from a consumer side, people use technology
to actually search, to actually review, to actually
find ideas on what's the best product I should
buy, what is the upcoming plan, etc. Using this
technology every day actually makes you more
aware and more educated. I think this is something
with shaping. with a hell of a technology. And
these things make you the supplier and demand
side to actually collaborate much better. All
right, yeah, because like you said, definitely
tools like ChatGPT or like AI, like even at school,
like in high school, we do use like ChatGPT and
all that because, and... Because, well, one,
it's really efficient and two, it's like a lot
faster. And especially, you know, in the business
world and like in operations, it also helps,
you know, make things and makes plans like a
lot more efficient and also helps you sort of
analyze a lot of the metrics and a lot of the
data that you do receive from consumers. So since
we know that business success really depends
on a good team, is there an example you could
share from your experience about how a team contributed
to success? Yes, definitely have. Because you
cannot do all your work by yourself. I mean,
you can do it, but it's not efficient and it's
not scalable. That's why you have a team to create
and make magic and make impact at a much larger
scale and much faster. So first of all, I think
you have to share the same vision. Like you will
like to eat something which you agree that it
is something that is beneficial to the consumer.
to the business, to yourself. And an example
which I see is that I used to work at Google
in terms of a sales management role to ensure
that we could help succeed and drive the digital
maturity of your clients. But as we know that
sometimes the issue was that the business doesn't
really understand digital. And it requires a
lot of time or effort or case to actually shift.
Their mindset from being offline -centric to
become more online -centric. With that, with
the help of my colleagues, getting the expertise,
the specialty, and crafting a narrative story,
which helps to lead to, why, if they invest in
digital, how will their business perform much
better? With a better ROI, with a better efficiency.
And once we agree on a simpler plan, and we pitch
them together, that's where the income comes,
and they actually buy into our solution. And
they actually create a lot of ROI from investing
and driving their communication through Google
solutions. So this is something which I think
is how you share your vision together. You collaborate,
getting the expertise from different people and
executing it out and making impact to the team
and to their client's business. Yeah, for sure.
You know, like a team that works well together
would... Definitely increase the efficiency,
you know, a team with a balance of soft skills
and hard skills so that they complement each
other. So now looking ahead, what do you think
that the future holds for the retail industry
and how can young people prepare to thrive in
it? Retail will be much more competitive. Absolutely.
Because it's thought like before we have a wholesaler,
retailer and consumer, right? But now every consumers
can actually be retailers, right? I saw a lot
of... People started to be creators. They actually
sell products in TikTok, in e -commerce and other
places. So competition should be much, much,
much harder. And requirement of skill sets of
these young people to understand the fundamentals
of the business, also digital, and being fast
forward enough in this generation is something
which you need to prepare from. So that's the
lesson of age, I think. Key traits that... These
people need to prepare. It's four things. One,
you need to be very curious. Like, curious in
things. Like, why does this happen? Doing in
terms of the curiosity in the business. Two is
the hard skill, like column solving, and that's
a good thing skills. Ability to identify the
issue, ability to identify the action and the
solution. Three is about communication. Making
sure that what you think... It's actually being
communicated and making people around you, not
just your clients, but also your boss, your friends,
or those who work under you in the future, understand
what you're trying to deliver. And last but not
least, it's about prioritization and focusing
a lot on leadership and innovation. Those four
things will definitely help you to at least see
future proof and good proof of the changes that
is very important hectic in the future. Yeah,
thank you so much for that insight, especially,
you know, when you listed the four things that
young people should have, like curiosity, you
know, soft skills, hard skills, and a lot of
communication, you know, and prioritization as
well. Like you mentioned, we will definitely
keep that in mind for the future. So as we end
this first segment, we always like to ask advice
from our guests. So our last question for you
is, what advice would you give to students who
are passionate about business and marketing?
I think you have to be very curious and really
looking things from a strategic point of view
and a financial point of view. Because sometimes
it's passion what drives you, right? But if passion
doesn't translate to money, it just doesn't work.
Or else you'll be working in a charity point
of view. But if you're really keen about making
business, meaning that you're keen about making
money, heat about making the impact and you could
scale this solution hard, making sure you have
a vision, but also execution. Because if you
have a great vision, but without execution, it
doesn't add, right? But if you have a proper
execution without a vision or a plan, it's the
same because you're going nowhere. So be curious.
Be visionary. Also, the issue is executionable.
The rest is about... relationship building and
connection building. Because as you're just asking
those questions, you cannot succeed doing things
alone. You need partnerships. You need relationships.
You need to have the ability to find or getting
to know which people matches with you, matches
with how your business would be going. So make
sure that you find the right, you build the right
connections, relationship. Be curious. And also
have vision, but also execution like absolute.
That is something which I think you should do
a lot from now till you actually succeed in the
future. All right. Thank you so much for your
advice and your time as well, Khun Task. Yeah.
Thank you so much from all of us. Thank you.
Thank you so much, Mr. Task, for joining us and
for giving us some great advice. Don't forget
about the finance side of business. Building
relationships, having a passion, and you can
have a great idea, but execution is important
as well. We appreciate your insight and experience
and hope our audience was able to gain a better
understanding about the world of retail, customer
-focused strategies, and so much more. Okay,
please stick around for segment two, where we
bring you part eight of our adventure story.
We'll be right back after this short PSA. Hey,
everyone. This episode drops in the middle of
AP test season where students take AP or advanced
placement courses examinations as the culmination
of the lessons and units they've been learning
for this past year. In this time of heightened
stress and maybe some anxiety, we'd like to send
out a message to all, a message of hope and joy
and perseverance. You've got this. It's the final
stretch before the end of the academic year.
One pro tip, we've had a past episode in the
seasons before about effective studying methods
and technique. You should check that out. Take
a deep breath, study well, and good luck. And
we are back with our second segment, and we will
continue with part eight of our story, Legends
of the Yucatan. Part eight is titled The Passengers.
If you missed parts one through seven, you can
get caught up by listening to episodes 87 through
93. Legends of the Yucatan is a sequel to our
season two story, The Secrets of El Dorado. We
released last year during episodes 55 through
64 in audio narration. It's also available in
book form as a downloadable PDF from our website
or in paperback version on Amazon .com. Just
visit studentsincorporated .com to find out more.
Now, moving on, Camden will give us a quick recap
before we jump into Part 8. Recapping Part 7,
The Chase. Carlos waits at the museum to watch
for the person picking up the black bag with
the fake jade jar. Lily spots him and is suspicious
of him. David picks up what he thought was the
jade jar. Hawthorne discovered that the real
Jade Jar was in a sports bag. And without further
ado, let's jump back into our story where we
join our eclectic group of characters in our
continuing adventure. It had been about 30 minutes
or so since the provincial police had left with
their suspect in custody, Carlos Emanuel Rodriguez.
He also had known associates with the same last
name, family members who were also wanted. David,
who had had a long conversation with the two
police officers, found out that Carlos and two
of his family members were wanted in at least
two other Mexican states for similar crimes,
theft, assault and battery, and other petty crimes.
Carlos also matched the description of the guy
in Ava's photo. Hawthorne was as surprised as
Tommy, David, and Miranda were that this Carlos
character actually had the jade jar on him when
he was caught. Not a very smart criminal, to
say the least. Hawthorne, along with Tommy, David,
and Miranda, were all now sitting with Ava, Lily,
and the students inside the Grand Museum's food
court area. Hawthorne and Tommy took turns explaining
to the rest of the students what had happened
earlier that day. Hawthorne also explained that
he had contacted Professor Amanda Chase so that
as soon as all the students returned to Mexico
City, they were going to head directly home,
back to Coloma. Prof Chase would be helping sort
out those details for him. Miranda, who was only
partially listening, could hardly contain her...
excitement after Hawthorne passed her the old
smelly sports bag that Carlos had dropped after
David tackled him earlier. She couldn't believe
that the jade jar, the artifact that she had
painstakingly searched for and discovered so
many months ago, was now back in her hands once
again. She put the old gym bag, which held the
very rare and valuable jade jar artifact, into
the black bag. She did this carefully and out
of sight of anyone else. The only people who
knew that they had recovered the Jade Jar artifact
was Professor Hawthorne, Prof. Tommy, David,
and Miranda. Carlos knew as well, but he was
of little concern now. In fact, he was probably
sitting in a dirty holding cell awaiting transfer
back to Mexico City. Miranda thought to herself,
I need to convince Prof. Tommy the Jade Jar should
be returned back to the location it came from,
back to the people it belongs to, the people
of Calakmul. I don't want to make the same mistake
twice by handing it over to some official at
a museum or some politician. It's already caused
too much trouble. Miranda recalls one of the
village leaders near Calakmul had warned her
and her team many months ago as they were leaving
their excavation site near Calakmul that the
jade jar, if it truly was a personal belonging
of Pakal the Great, that it would eventually
find its way back home, back to Calakmul at some
point in the future. She then thought to herself,
well, the future is now, and maybe I'm the way
it gets back to its rightful place, since I was
the one who took it from its original place so
many months ago. Miranda finds Prof. Tommy, speaks
to him privately, out of the earshot of the others,
and explains to him her plan to take the jade
jar back to Kolakmul. And, to her surprise, Prof.
Tommy agreed wholeheartedly. The only issue she
may face in the near future was what she would
tell Anthony Garcia, the museum's curator, when
she saw him again back in Mexico City. She'll
cross that bridge when she comes to it. After
his brief discussion with Miranda, Tommy asked
around among the students to see if they were
all ready to head back to Merida, or if they
still wanted to see anything else locally at
Chicken Itza. He thought it was sounding. We're
ready to go back to a hotel in Merida, answered
from all the students in the group. We took that
as, let's call it a day. As the group, and there
were 15 of them now, including David's brother,
got back on the bus, Hawthorne made it a point
to sit close to both Ava and Lily. They had about
an hour and a half bus ride back to Merida, which
was more than enough time for the three of them
to make a travel plan for the students. Hawthorne
explained that Prof. Amanda was helping make
the arrangements and that Lily was going to help
accompany the students back to Coloma while Hawthorne
stayed at least one or two more days longer to
meet with several of the university officials
and to try to see Anthony again now that he was
discharged from the hospital. Ava speaks up and
says, Reuters has okayed me to keep working down
here in Mexico for at least a week or more. They
basically told me to just do your thing and bring
us back a story we can use in Circulate. And,
well, I've got a really good one started thanks
to the last few events that has happened to us
down here. Lily then says, When we get back to
Mexico City, I can help the girls get packed
and ready. And I think Joseph could be put in
charge of making sure the boys are ready. I think
he's the more responsible one out of their group.
Thanks for your help with this, Lily. Hawthorne
responds, I appreciate you taking leadership
over the students today. I'm sure you're ready
to get back to some sort of normal routine. For
sure, Lily responds. I'm just super happy I didn't
have to go inside that pyramid. Ava jumps in.
Yeah, some of the passageways were quite tight
and cramped. Thank goodness Sierra wasn't here
with us either. She definitely would have freaked
out. Both Ava and Lily laugh as they go down
memory lane for a few minutes about their previous
adventure together back in El Dorado County,
California. Meanwhile, Miranda and David are
able to debrief with each other about the day
and the stressful and exciting things that had
just happened. Miranda was talking through a
plan with David of how she could return the jade
jar back to the provincial leaders who oversee
the ancient sites of Calakmul. She tells David
as they sit together on the bus, I really just
want to return this important artifact back to
its rightful people. I want to do it quietly,
without the fanfare of the media or public. Yeah,
I totally understand, David replies. He then
says, My contract with the university and the
museum ends after tomorrow, so I'd be willing
to help make that happen. Return the jay jar
back to Kalakmul, if you'd like. That would mean
a lot to me, and I'd love to have company on
that trip, Miranda responds. She then asks, what
about the golden mask and the secret chamber
you discovered in the pyramid? What are your
thoughts? As David gestures toward his brother,
who's sound asleep in the seats next to them,
he says, I need to figure out what to do about
my brother's involvement in the heist at the
gala event. He was the getaway driver for that
guy Carlos and his associates. At this point,
I feel like he's already paid his dues by...
I'd like to convince him to straighten up and
join me in my small business, maybe work off
his social debt to the public. I could use the
help with planning and logistics when I take
contract jobs. David continues. And you ask about
the golden mask. Well, I'd rather just be done
with that thing. It's only brought me headaches.
David pauses for a moment then adds, well, not
everything has been a headache. I mean, it did
allow us to meet, which has been a positive thing
I'd like to continue. Miranda smiles, shakes
her head in agreement and then says, I wonder
if your brother has any information that may
help the authorities recover the golden mask.
It would be great if the secret treasure room
in the pyramid stayed a secret and the golden
mask could be returned as well. Miranda then
throws out an idea to David and says, what if
this was our mission, our next chapter, you and
I together. We return both artifacts back to
their rightful places where we originally found
them. Well, of course, we'd need to recover the
golden mask as well. I like that. David replies
and then says, I think we have our work cut out
for us, though, in trying to figure out how to
get the golden mask back. But maybe my brother
knows something about it. Let's ask him when
we get back to the hotel in Merida. A few minutes
later, Hawthorne noticed that the bus had started
to slow down, so he looked forward a few seats
where Tommy was sitting right behind the driver
and asked, Is everything okay up there, Tommy?
By this time, everybody on the bus had noticed
the bus was now slowing down and was looking
out the windows. Tommy answers back, Everything's
fine. Our driver is stopping for this broken
down on the side of the road. It looks like the
taxi driver got two passengers as well, starting
off the side of the road. Tommy continues. As
the bus rolls, he'll stop right behind the broken
down taxi car. It's a typical courtesy for public
transport drivers to help each other out like
this. Also, there are no services along this
stretch of the highway for another 40 plus kilometer
before we reach Murata. Tommy gets out of the
bus and talks with the taxi driver for a few
minutes and then gets back on the bus. The two
passengers that were waiting with the taxi follow
Tommy into the bus and set up down front. near
the bus door. Tommy looks back at Hawthorne and
then says the taxi driver is going to save the
way with his car. He said a mechanic friend of
his is on his way to help. However, it was going
to be another hour or so. Anyway, I offered to
give his stranded passenger a ride to Merida
since that's where we're both headed. They've
been out here waiting for the past 30 minutes
or so. Professor Hawthorne noticed that the two
female passengers that followed Tommy onto the
bus kept their heads and eyes down. making it
a point not to look at anyone in the group, especially
toward the back of the bus. He thought to himself,
well, maybe they're just a little embarrassed.
He also felt bad for them since he too has been
in their shoes in the past, broken down on the
side of the road with no way to fix the car.
And in that type of situation, you are having
to rely on the kindness of strangers. Most of
the students were not paying much attention now
and were now back to doing whatever they were
doing right before the bus stopped to help. Ava
and Lily were back to talking and looking at
Lily's photos on her phone, and Miranda and David
had not paid much attention to the entire stop
as they kept talking and laughing through the
entire ordeal. As the two female passengers got
situated in their seats, a few rows up from where
the majority of the group were seated, Hawthorne
noticed that the younger one was clutching what
looked like a sports bag. The sports bag looked
similar to the one he had just recovered back
at Chichen Itza. The guy who was arrested was
carrying a similar bag right before he dropped
it as he was tackled by David and then tased
by the security guards. He tried to put it out
of his mind, but it was bothering him for some
reason. He thought to himself, hmm, what are
the odds that two different people on the same
day, hours apart from each other, would be carrying
the same type of bag close to the same location?
As the bus was pulling back out into the highway,
having left the taxi driver and his broken down
car on the side of the road, David noticed that
his brother, who had been quite sound asleep,
started to wake up. His brother had been laying
down the seats next to David and Miranda. In
the other row, David's brother sat up, rubbed
his head, and looked around the bus and asked
David where they were. David responded by telling
him they were on their way back to Merida. Now
that his brother was awake, having survived being
locked in a hot trunk for several hours, David
started asking him a lot of questions about how
and why he got involved in this scheme to steal
the artifacts of the gala event the other night.
David's brother was not really in the mood to
talk about it at the moment and was feeling a
little embarrassed he was being scolded around
other people. But his brother did respond by
telling David that all he was hired to do was
to drive three people from Mexico City to Merida
in the middle of the night. He then added that
he had no idea that the three people who drove
to Merida that night had just robbed the gala
event at the museum in Mexico City. He then also
told David that he has tried to stay clear of
work like this the last year or so, but for some
reason, the person who hired him really wanted
him to do it, and it paid really well. Miranda
overheard David laying into his brother about
the whole situation that he had gotten himself
into. Miranda felt a bit embarrassed for David's
younger brother as David's voice kept getting
a little louder with each sentence. She also
felt a little sympathy for the kid. Well, I guess
he's not really a kid. Miranda was guessing that
David's younger brother was maybe a few years
younger than her. As she continued to listen
to David give his younger brother a lecture about
his life and the direction it had taken, she
secretly wanted David to forgive him and show
him some mercy. However, Miranda knew it was
not her place to give David any family relationship
advice, since she did not know the entire backstory
between the two brothers. She also had family
members she needed to forgive, so she sat there,
tried not to listen, and looked out the window
of the bus. Still on the bus ride back to Miranda,
with maybe another 20 to 30 minutes to go. Tommy
noticed that the two new female passengers were
being very quiet and reserved. He thought that
it was a little odd since they were getting a
free ride back to Merida. The two ladies were
keeping to themselves and staying quiet. So Tommy,
who was sitting in the seat directly across the
two passengers, looked over at them and said,
I didn't really introduce myself earlier, but
my name is Thomas Flores. You can call me Tommy.
And we're a university group from Mexico. And
he then asked, How did you like Chichen Itza?
I mean, assuming that's where you were coming
from, since that's the only traffic on this road
between Merida and the ancient site. Is that
your first time visiting? Tommy was genuinely
curious and trying to make small talk as he assumed
there were day tourists from either cities of
Merida or somewhere else close by. Renanta turned
her head away from the man who was now sitting
closer to them and just stared at her aunt awkwardly.
Renanta was not sure how to answer the guy, so
she just stared at her aunt and hoped that man
would just slide back over further in his seat
and be quiet. Maria, a little annoyed about her
niece's lack of ability to act normal, answered
Tommy's question for them and responded, Yes,
that's right. I wanted to take my niece to see
the Chitzen Itza since she's never been there
before and my apologies as she's really shy.
That's okay. Tommy replies. Maria nods her head
in agreement at Tommy's comments and smiles.
She's also hoping her subtle nonverbal expressions
communicate that she doesn't really want to talk
and would rather just be left alone. Renanta
whispers to Maria. What are we going to do when
we get to Marita? Maria answers quietly, so as
not to elicit any type of reaction from Tommy,
who's now talking with the driver. She says,
we are going to have to lay low until we get
that final payout from the big boss. I mean,
I don't think he will, but maybe the big boss
can help him. Renanta then replies, I grabbed
this old gym bag from the other car. At least
we still have the thing. Maybe we can still use
it to our advantage. Renanta was still thinking
that the jade jar was in this old sports bag
she was carrying. However, she actually was just
carrying around the bag with some rocks in it.
She and her Aunt Maria had no idea that the jade
jar was actually in a different bag and resting
at the feet of one of the other passengers who
was sitting toward the bag. Mario looks over
at Tommy, making sure he's not paying much attention
to their side conversation and quietly responds,
Yeah, I noticed you were carrying that thing.
Just pretend like it's your day bag and try not
to draw attention to it. These tourists don't
have a clue anyway. Professor Hawthorne, still
trying to shake the weird unsettling feeling
he had about their two new passengers, got up
from his seat, moved back one row to where David
and Miranda were sitting. David had stopped lecturing
his brother by this time and was just sitting
there with Miranda next to him in the window
seat. As Professor Hawthorne sat down, David
asked, What brings you back here? Hawthorne answers,
Apologies for interrupting, but I feel something
is off with our two passengers. It's just a feeling
I have. The younger one of the two has a similar,
maybe even the same type of sports bag that the
guy you helped apprehend was carrying. Should
I be alarmed by this fact? At that moment, Hawthorne
noticed David's brother slumped down in his seat,
hiding behind the back of the seat in front of
him. David saw his brother's reaction too and
knew immediately that there was a connection
between his brother, the two female passengers
they picked up, and Carlos, the guy the police
had already arrested. Miranda was also paying
attention to this new information, but not wanting
to raise any suspicion on the part of the two
new passengers sitting at the front of the bus,
she pretended to have a nonchalant conversation
with Professor Hawthorne, smiling and even laughing
periodically. She looked over at David, who was
now having a very quiet conversation with his
brother, who was still slumped down in his seat,
not wanting to be seen. David looks back up at
Hawthorne after telling his brother to stay out
of sight and then says softly, My brother says
these are the other two he drove from Mexico
City to Merida, and they're related to Carlos.
He said the younger one is Carlos' sister. Her
name is Renata. And the older one is their aunt,
and her name is Maria. Miranda responds and says
quietly, Wow, what luck is this? Looks like we
found our thieves from the gala. And they have
all come right to us in a weird way. David replies
and says, I'm not the type of person who believes
in superstitions, but there are people who believe
that if you steal Mayan treasure, you will be
cursed until the treasure is returned. Miranda
smiles a bit and says, well, I'm starting to
believe that superstition may be true. This family
of thieves have surely found some bad luck today
getting on our bus, of all things. Hawthorne
then asks, so what's the plan? We'll be arriving
in Merida in the next 20 minutes or so, and we
can't let these two get away. David, rising his
phone up to his ear, then replies and says, I'm
already on it, putting a call in with a contact
of mine in the police department in Mexico City.
He'll be able to call ahead and have several
plain -clothed officers waiting. David then continues,
we need to know where our new passengers want
to be dropped off so I can relay the message
on. So, the sooner we find this out, the better.
It will give my guy more time to get his guys
mobilized for the rest and pickup. Hawthorne
then said, I'm on it. and then sends a quick
text to Tommy, who's sitting up front by the
two new passengers. Tommy receives a text message,
looks at his phone, then looks at his watch,
and then looks over at Maria and Renetta, who
are just sitting there silent. Tommy then says,
excuse me. He continues, we're about 15 minutes
away from Moretta, and our bus will be dropping
my group and I off downtown where our hotel is
located. We'd be happy to drop you off somewhere
else. I think the main bus depot is located downtown
somewhere. Maria, not having thought that far
ahead yet, responded and then said, Yeah, the
main bus depot is just fine. Thank you. Renata
then whispers to Maria, Then we can get a ride
back to Mexico City, right? Yep, that's the plan.
Now just follow my lead, don't talk too much,
and keep a low profile and we'll be on our way.
and hopefully we'll be able to get your brother
back. Maria responds quietly to Renata. At that
same moment, Tommy sends three words text message
back to Hawthorne that reads, Main Bus Depot.
Tommy, not really understanding why Hawthorne
wanted to know the drop -off location of the
two passengers, didn't ask him a question, but
just sat there, and then continued talking with
the bus driver where they had left off a few
minutes. That's the way Tommy was. He had the
ability to connect with just about everybody.
From a random bus driver to a career criminal,
he could talk to just about anyone without a
problem. As the bus entered Merida City Limits
and was now winding its way through the city
streets slowly, Hawthorne asked David, Is everything
set up? David answered, I think the pickup team
will be ready by the time we get there. They
had to scramble to get a few officers assigned.
We can drop off our two guests at the bus depot
as normal and then be on our way. David, Miranda
says as she interrupts, what about the golden
mask? The two people who know where it is are
sitting on our bus right now. You have a good
point, David answers. At that moment, and after
hearing Miranda say that, Hawthorne offered up
an idea. He said, David, this is a long shot,
but I have a really crazy idea. Hawthorne knew
that if these two passengers were arrested and
taken into custody now, there was probably no
chance the gold mask would ever be recovered.
He assumed it was either hiding somewhere or
they had already handed it over to their boss,
whoever that may be. At least at this point,
they still had a chance to talk with them or
negotiate with them. David responded, Hawthorne
offers up his idea quickly as they were only
a few minutes from the bus depot where they would
let their two passengers off. Hawthorne makes
it quick and says, After we drop our two passengers
off at the bus depot, we drive around the street
corner and drop you off, Miranda and your brother.
You all follow them into the bus depot. David,
you make contact with them inside the bus depot.
Hopefully before the plane closed, police get
to them first. Then if you can talk with them
really quick, try to strike a deal. As soon as
the police swarm and apprehend them, Miranda
and your brother join you. Before the police
haul them off, you need to tell the two ladies
that if they tell you where the golden mask is
located, or who has it now, that your brother
will testify that they both helped save his life
and got him released from the cartel. This should
get him a reduced prison sentence, or something,
or at least I hope so. And David and Miranda,
since you are both somewhat of local celebrities
in Mexico, your word will mean a lot more to
them than anyone else's. Hawthorne then asks,
what do you think? We'll do it, David responds.
Yeah, I'm in, Miranda says. We can then catch
a ride back to the hotel later, David says. A
few minutes later, the bus pulls in and parks
in the main parking area at Merida's main bus
depot. The doors open and the two passengers
up front exit rather quickly without looking
back. However, Hawthorne did notice the older
one say something to Tommy and the driver as
she got off last. The bus then exits the parking
lot and turns on a side street as it has to go
around the block in order to go back the same
direction they had just came from. The group's
hotel is a mere 10 minutes away. As soon as the
bus turns a corner, Hawthorne gets up and walks
to the front of the bus and asks the bus driver
to stop temporarily. The bus stops next to the
curb and Hawthorne watches as David, Miranda,
and David's brother get off the bus. Hawthorne
saw some confusion on the faces of several students
and Ava and Lily, as well as Tommy's, so Professor
Hawthorne, not wanting to explain all the details
of what those three were going to do, he said,
they're going to do an errand and then meet us
all back at our hotel later. Hopefully that's
okay. That brief answer was sufficient to ease
curiosities. No one else had any more questions.
They all went back to doing whatever they were
doing before they stopped, and then the bus moved
on. David, with Miranda and David's brother following,
all entered the main bus depot terminal looking
for the two female passengers. David says, let's
stick together. Keep your eyes open. I bet they
were trying to buy a ticket back to Mexico City.
Yep, there they are, over by that ticket window,
Miranda replies. She then says, as soon as they
turn around, we can approach them and ask them.
So, the three move closer to the ticket window
and wait for the transaction to be finished between
the bus ticket clerk and the two female passengers.
As they are waiting for the right moment to confront
the two, David says, My brother says that their
names are Maria, the older one, and Renata is
her niece, the younger one. At that moment, Maria
and Renata turn around and start walking away
from the ticket window, with tickets in hand.
David's brother, unnoticed, walks up from behind
Maria, who is holding the tickets, and grabs
her hand and rips the ticket out of her hand.
David watches as both Maria and Renata turn around
quickly. and seem to be startled a bit as they're
looking directly at the guy they let go back
at Chichen Itza earlier in the day. David steps
in between the two ladies and his brother and
then says, You have one minute, maybe two minute
tops because the local police grab you. Tell
me where the golden mask is and we'll help you.
Maria snaps back, I know you. How'd you get here?
She then looks at David and Miranda and says,
I know you too. I've seen you both on TV getting
an award for quote unquote finding those artifacts.
You are both thieves too. The only difference
between what you did and what I did was you were
able to figure out how to do it legally. Miranda
steps up and then says as she nods her head as
if to try to convince Maria of the truth she
is about to say. You did help this guy. Miranda
then points to David's brother and continues.
We can tell the police that you helped rescue
this guy. We can sign a statement for you saying
that you helped this guy. We may be able to help
your nephew and your brother Carlos as well.
Tell us where the golden mask is and we'll help
you. At that moment, five plainclothes police
officers with badges hanging around the necks
approach from different directions. Within seconds,
Maria and Renata are handcuffed and are started
to be shuffled down towards the exit. Miranda
follows, with David right behind. Miranda continues
to talk as they are making their way out of the
exit toward a police van parked outside. Maria,
help us out and we can help you out. Miranda
could tell that Maria wanted to say something,
but she looked conflicted and confused. Renanta
then yells out as they are being shoved into
a van through the door. It's at a safe house
outside Merida on a route 180 near Hacienda,
Tibet. At that moment, the van door slams shut
and the Viant drives off. Miranda turns toward
David and asks, Did you get that? Yes, a safe
house off route 180 near Hacienda, Tibet. Well,
that narrows it down a bit. Miranda then says,
David, where's your brother? And that ends part
eight. Stay tuned for next week as we bring you
part nine in our continuing story called The
Legends of the Yucatan. And that's a wrap for
today's episode. A big thank you to Mr. Task
for giving us a behind the scenes look at how
central retail is navigating the digital frontier.
and redefining the customer experience. Join
us again next week as we discuss the topic of
Capstone and bring you another chapter in our
adventure story, Legends of the Yucatan. And
as always, this podcast would not be possible
without the hard work and support of our international
student production team. All music and sound
effects are courtesy of Pixabay .com, a vibrant
community of creatives sharing copyright -free
images, videos, and music. And we are signing
off until next time. We are Students Incorporated,
because your voice matters.