Revenge, Alliances, and Auctions
After one more round of that little game(?) in the hotel, we were finally able to head to the Fitzgerald mansion. Thanks to Aris and Nae Fitzgerald smoothing things over, no one seemed to suspect anything about our relationship.
Honestly, even if it was three women and one man, two of them were mother and daughter, and the other two were my aunt and cousin. Anyone who assumed we’d had a four-way would have to be a total pervert. There might be a few people who thought Mimata Chieri and I had simply gotten our own room, though.
Everyone went off to their respective rooms to rest while I headed to the drawing room after being summoned by the head of the Fitzgerald family, Oliver Fitzgerald. What could this be about? He wouldn’t have called me for no reason. Was there some kind of business he wanted to discuss?
“Did you enjoy yourself yesterday?”
I felt a twinge of guilt hearing Oliver Fitzgerald speak in such a friendly tone, but there was nothing I could do about it. If I was going to back out now, I should never have laid a hand on either Shinoe Misano or Ha Juyoon in the first place… From the moment I awakened the Golden Pillar trait, I had decided to use it to become the master of the Taira Group. As long as that ambition burned inside me, I couldn’t give up any woman. All I could do was hope that Nae Fitzgerald would keep things well hidden.
“Yes, it was my first time sightseeing in New York, so it was really fun. My aunt and Aris showed me around nicely.”
I sat down across from Oliver Fitzgerald and took a sip of the coffee he poured for me.
“There’s a reason I called you here alone. From what I understand, you have connections in Korea. Is that correct?”
How did he know? Did old man Taira Tanjo tell him…? Nagumo Sian had contacted me after hearing from Taira Tanjo that I owned a PMC, so there was a high chance he had also shared this information.
“Yes. One of my close friends is the daughter of a major Korean conglomerate.”
Since he already seemed to know, there was no point in lying. Oliver Fitzgerald broke into a wide smile, apparently pleased with my honest answer.
“Then I suppose I should explain. You know that our company has a stake in the Mars colonization project, right?”
“Of course. It’s been all over the news.”
Mars colonization was a global-scale project. Countless corporations were scrambling to get even a toe in the door. Among them, the Fitzgerald family’s Talon had been chosen to develop the engines for the Mars migration spacecraft.
Because of that, they were receiving enormous subsidies from the U.S. government and massive investments from all over. I’d heard they were practically drowning in money. With those funds, Talon had acquired companies around the world that possessed necessary technologies and had grown large enough to be called the Talon Group.
From what Nae Fitzgerald told me, Oliver Fitzgerald had been incredibly busy running around because of the Mars project. The fact that he was asking even me for help suggested that something had clearly gone wrong.
“You must never speak of this to anyone. A flaw has been discovered in the spacecraft engine we developed. The problem is that it heats up far too easily.”
“So the Korean company has the cooling technology that Talon needs.”
“Exactly. I’m told that a Korean company called Isis possesses the technology we’re looking for.”
Isis? I’d never heard of them…
“I’ve never heard of that company before?”
“It’s not particularly famous. Have you ever heard of the business that freezes people with incurable diseases so they can be thawed and treated once medical technology advances in the future?”
Ah, I was familiar with the concept of human cryopreservation. It had appeared in plenty of novels and movies. I’d even heard that such companies actually existed before I was possessed.
“Yes, I’ve heard about that a few times. So this Isis company is…?”
“Correct. Isis is the company that produces frozen humans. The cooling technology they patented matches perfectly with the engine cooling system we need.”
“Then couldn’t you just negotiate with Isis to buy the technology, or acquire the company outright? I thought you had plenty of money thanks to the Mars colonization project.”
Oliver Fitzgerald shook his head at my words. He looked frustrated, as if things weren’t going as smoothly as he’d like.
“We have more than enough money, of course. Unfortunately, we can’t do that. There are countless corporations trying to get involved in this project. If we suddenly bought a company we have no connection to like Isis, our competitors would investigate why we wanted it. If they discovered the flaw in our engine, we’d be kicked out of the Mars colonization project. That would be the end of our company. We’ve already poured too many resources into this.”
I see. There were plenty of rival companies eager to drag down Talon, which still hadn’t fully secured its position in the Mars project. That’s why he couldn’t move openly.
“So what exactly do you want to do?”
“First, we establish a research company in Korea that appears completely unrelated to us. That company acquires Isis, receives our engine data, and uses Isis’s cooling technology to fix the flaw in Talon’s engine. Then we acquire the research company. Even if other corporations try to point out problems with our engine, the issue will already be resolved, so there won’t be anything to criticize.”
Aha. So instead of acquiring Isis directly and fixing the engine flaw, we create a dummy company to buy Isis, have that company repair the engine, and only then acquire the dummy company?
“In that case, my friend and I were already planning to establish a company in Korea. We’ll acquire Isis. Rather than sending the engine data after the acquisition, how about you acquire the company directly from me? You’ll need the original Isis technicians too, right? Of course, once the problem is resolved, you’ll have to pay me handsomely.”
“That does seem like a better approach. Don’t worry about the money—we have plenty… And if you resolve this matter for us, I’ll take your side when issues arise within the Taira family.”
It was nice to have Talon on my side, but since Talon wasn’t part of the Taira Group and was an entirely separate company, it wouldn’t provide much direct power. What mattered was building connections in America that could help each other. Plus, once we acquired Isis, Talon would buy it from us at a high price later. Financially, it was a profitable deal…
“Understood. I’ll speak with my friend first and give you a definite answer.”
“Tell her we’ll make sure you earn at least double the profit.”
Just how much research funding and investment money was flowing in that he could promise to double it? I had briefly considered investing in Talon myself, but it seemed they wouldn’t even notice ordinary sums.
“Among the companies that hold Mars colonization rights, are there any looking for investors? Looking at Talon, it seems like most of them don’t have money problems.”
“Generally, no. Once you take investment money, you eventually have to pay it back. Since everyone currently has sufficient funds, there probably won’t be anyone willing to accept your investment. However…”
Oliver Fitzgerald suddenly paused after saying “however,” looking slightly reluctant.
“That’s right. In about three days, a major scandal is going to break involving one of the food companies that received Mars colonization rights. The remaining companies that haven’t secured their rights yet will start tearing each other apart. It would be wise to invest in one of the companies that will be doing the tearing.”
Aha. So he was telling me to invest in a food company that hadn’t yet obtained Mars colonization rights. Of course, since many companies were aiming for those rights, it wasn’t a guaranteed success, but he was suggesting I invest in one that looked promising. This was quite valuable information.
“Thank you for the excellent information. We’ll make sure to repay you with good results.”
“Good. Go ahead and contact your friend.”
I left the drawing room for a moment and called Han Yugyeong. She picked up immediately, as if she had been waiting.
“Yeah, Yugyeong. What were you doing?”
While I was having fun in America, Han Yugyeong had been incredibly busy setting up the company we would own fifty-fifty. I felt a little guilty. Still, since she had successfully secured investments from the dark merchant and handled many other things, she hadn’t exactly been slacking off. There was no need to feel too bad.
“You’ve been working hard. We decided to talk about everything when we all meet in Tokyo, so I’ll make it up to you then.”
I hadn’t thought of anything specific… I just said whatever came to mind.
“We’ll go on that proper Tokyo date we couldn’t do before… I’ll buy you gifts…”
“Oh, right. This time I got something that could be called a request? Or rather, something that would benefit us.”
I told Han Yugyeong about the Isis acquisition that I had heard from Oliver Fitzgerald.
“Got it. I’ll do that.”
As long as I continued to support Han Yugyeong, she would definitely become the owner of the Shingang Group. So it was certain that the company we were building together would grow into a major corporation.
“It’s because our Yugyeong is working so hard that the company is growing so fast. I’ll tell your uncle-in-law that you’ve accepted, then.”
After ending the call with Han Yugyeong, I returned to the drawing room and told Oliver Fitzgerald that the response had been positive. We exchanged contact information. He would return double the acquisition amount… It was quite a profitable transaction.
From Talon’s perspective, it was better than watching their company collapse due to the engine defect, so they must have calculated it carefully before making the offer. For now, I could think of it as having formed an alliance with Talon.
Han Yugyeong Selfies
