The Unexpected Talent of the Dope

"Alright, we've secured approval for 21 percent!" At Kitamura's shout, the board members cheered enthusiastically once more. They hadn't done a thing, yet they were sitting on a premium that had jumped by 6 percent.

"Good, then let's call Nintendo again..." As the board member with the cool head stepped up again, Kitamura shouted with veins bulging in his neck. "Hey! Why do you keep making things so complicated? It's 21 percent, 21 percent! That's more than enough!"

But the cool-headed board member just looked indifferent. "The stock was supposed to sell at a 16 percent premium, but a few phone calls turned it into 21 percent. Doesn't that mean we should keep calling? Doesn't everyone agree?"

As the other board members nodded in agreement, Kitamura could only pace back and forth in frustration. Consequently, the premium began to soar through the roof. Especially after the premium crossed 40 percent, Nintendo's working-level staff visited the site in person, and by the time it hit 60 percent, even Seo Jong-hoon had joined the table, turning it into a sort of private auction.

And finally, after Nintendo offered a premium of 99.5 percent, they shook their heads in defeat. "We no longer have the capacity to raise it further. We give up."

It was a de facto surrender. The board members wore expressions of genuine disappointment as they all turned to look at Seo Jong-hoon simultaneously. "Then it seems it is our victory at 100 percent."

Seo Jong-hoon smiled, and while Nintendo's staff gritted their teeth, there was nothing they could do. In the end, in a battle of capital against capital, the larger capital was bound to win.

A short while later, after Nintendo's staff withdrew, Kitamura approached Seo Jong-hoon with a bright face. He had failed to get the premium for himself, but since the 25 percent monopoly had turned into 100 percent, he was actually delighted.

However, Seo Jong-hoon's reaction was lukewarm. "Ah, just a moment."

"Yes?"

"The contract I have right now has the wrong numbers; it needs to be rewritten based on the 100 percent figure. Therefore, I would like you to give me a few days."

"That's just... you just have to fix the numbers..."

Seo Jong-hoon cut off Kitamura's words and shook his head. "That's difficult. A contract can change entirely because of a single number, so I must be careful. Please don't worry and just wait a few days."

In any case, it was a logical argument, so Kitamura and the other board members had no way to hold onto Seo Jong-hoon. When even Seo Jong-hoon left, only the board members remained.

"Don't worry. He said we just have to wait a few days, right?" Despite Kitamura's bold assurance, the board members were somewhat uneasy, and even after several days passed, there was no word from Seo Jong-hoon.

Hearing Seo Jong-hoon's reply, Kitamura shouted with his veins bulging. "No, how many times has this been now? It's already been two weeks since then. Two weeks!"

"No, what on earth..."

Watching Kitamura look frustrated while holding the disconnected receiver, the cool-headed board member shouted. "Just sell it to Nintendo!"

For once, Kitamura agreed. "I have to. This is ridiculous, do they think we're pushovers?"

Kitamura, who immediately called Nintendo with bravado, could only make a stunned expression. "Excuse me? You're not buying it?"

At Kitamura's voice, the expressions of the board members waiting behind him turned as if they had eaten something foul. "No, didn't you want to buy it so badly? What? 99.5 percent is too expensive?"

The premium chicken game where Nintendo's staff and Seo Jong-hoon had clashed. The premium the staff had thrown out was too high for Nintendo's leadership. Since the staff had initially offered that ratio with the intention of adjusting it later, Nintendo flatly rejected Kitamura's proposal.

"W-wait a minute. Then even if we lower the ratio... 80 percent, how about 80 percent?"

As the premium, which had reached 100 percent, dropped to 80 percent, the board members looked physically ill, but even this 80 percent didn't work on Nintendo.

"60! 60 percent!!"

Kitamura screamed as if he were wailing while clutching the receiver. But this percentage remained unmoved even as it dropped to 10 percent.

"Just don't sell to Nintendo! We can just wait for that guy Satoshi to contact us!" At one board member's shout, the cool-headed board member shouted back. "We're doing this because there's no guarantee he'll buy it! If I had known this, I would have just sold it to Nintendo, this is all Kitamura's fault!"

Kitamura covered the bottom of the receiver with his palm and shouted. "You should have made the deal when I said I'd get you 16 percent! I said a deal was possible immediately back then! It's because of that guy that we're in this mess!"

In the end, the board members started ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠fighting among themselves, and even Kitamura got dragged into it, with the phone call ending with the receiver left dangling.

In reality, Nintendo had realized that recruiting a second party was not as easy as they thought, and had recently concluded that they would accelerate the development of their own internal games. Because of that, they had no reason to buy the stock, but these people had no way of knowing such internal information.

If they had just said they would sell it to Nintendo at 15 percent even four days ago, they would have made a profit, but they were blinded by greed and ended up with nothing.

And finally. They couldn't sell the stock anywhere, and could only watch in despair as Nakayama pushed forward.

'At least I stopped the stock from leaking externally.'

The shares of the board members who had tried to hand Sega's stock over to Nintendo were not enough to stop Nakayama's push. Because once the stock sale fell through, some board members had shifted their direction to support Nakayama, even if they were in the minority.

The fact that they couldn't stop the push meant that the Genesis Project would proceed smoothly, regardless of the reason, so Yoon-gi let out a sigh of relief and sank into a single-person sofa.

"It seems we are at a stage where you can be a little relieved now."

At the words of Seo Jong-hoon, who was sitting on a three-person sofa, Yoon-gi nodded. "At least we've prevented management rights from being interfered with by a rival company."

"May I ask what you would have done if they had just sold the stock for 15 percent to Nintendo, regardless of our proposal?"

"If they had done that, I would have used the short-swing profit disgorgement system."

"...What is that?"

To Seo Jong-hoon's question, who was not well-versed in stocks, Yoon-gi added an explanation. "Insiders must return any profits made from trading stock within six months to the company. Because there is a possibility they traded the stock based on internal information. If they announced the Genesis Project about five months later and the stock price skyrocketed, all their market profits would have been returned to Sega."

"Oh... thinking about it that way, perhaps it might have been helpful if they had sold the stock to Nintendo?"

Yoon-gi shook his head. "No. The Genesis Project is currently underway, and it's not good to be the subject of gossip. If they had abandoned the Genesis Project, that would have been quite good, but Sega without the Genesis Project has no current value, right?"

"Ah... so that's how it works."

"Anyway, the project is the priority, so it can be seen as a not-so-bad success. By the way, are you looking into the land well?"

"Yes. There is land we have already purchased."

Currently, in Japan, apart from Japan Commodity, there was a separate corporation that Yoon-gi owned and Seo Jong-hoon managed. Of course, the number of employees was very, very small, and since the goal was only the acquisition of land, ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠there wasn't much to worry about.

"If you are short on funds, always contact my uncle. Money spent on land is never wasted."

"Yes. I was planning to contact him soon to request additional funds anyway."

"Good. Let's keep doing as we are now."

"Yes!"

With Seo Jong-hoon's energetic reply, Yoon-gi chatted a bit more before ending the meeting, and before long, only Yoon-gi, Choi Deok-bae, and Johnson remained in the hotel room.

"Where is Dope?"

"Yes?"

Toward the puzzled Yoon-gi, Choi Deok-bae gave a bitter smile.

When Seo Jong-hoon first met Kitamura, Choi Deok-bae was naturally there as well. Choi Deok-bae, who was bored, had brought Dope along, and as soon as Dope saw the computer in Kitamura's study, he had stuck to it and wouldn't budge. Even Choi Deok-bae's strength, trying to drag him away by force, was insufficient.

At Choi Deok-bae's words that he ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠was still there, Yoon-gi couldn't help but give a bitter smile. "Come to think of it, Aunt Kim Ryeon did say he was very interested in computers."

Choi Deok-bae, who had been speaking up to this point, clapped his hands as if he had remembered something. At the unexpectedly plausible deduction, Yoon-gi also put on a serious expression.

"Certainly... that is a possibility."

"Hmm... can't Dope operate the computer himself?"

"Do you want to try eating it once? Challenge, there is no such thing as impossible!"

"I'm joking."

Yoon-gi chuckled, then soon opened his mouth with a thoughtful expression. "Is there a password on that computer?"

"Hmm. Then there is only one way."

"What do you mean, it's time to work."

Unlike Yoon-gi's brightly smiling face, Choi Deok-bae wore a sorrowful expression like a deer caught in its own trap.

Even while grumbling, Choi Deok-bae waited steadily for Kitamura in the study of Kitamura's house. The current time was 8 o'clock. Kitamura had returned home at 6 o'clock, but there was no sign of him entering the study, and although he entered the study around 10 o'clock, he didn't use the computer. That lasted for 4 days.

Only when Choi Deok-bae was about to go crazy from boredom did Kitamura finally use the computer, and sure enough, there was a password on the computer. Two of them, at that.

Because he had been waiting in person, he could clearly see how Kitamura tapped the keyboard, and Choi Deok-bae's excellent brain memorized the password, which seemed a bit long, without any problems.

A short while later, Choi Deok-bae, who had been watching Kitamura, opened his eyes wide and flew straight to Yoon-gi as soon as Kitamura turned off the computer.

"Were you able to find out the details?"

"If we do it well, we might be able to secure more of Sega's stock."

Yoon-gi stroked his chin, lost in thought, then picked up the receiver and called Korea.

Ryu Geun-tae's very bright and welcoming voice. After chatting with Ryu Geun-tae for a while, Yoon-gi brought up the main point.

"Secretary Ryu."

"Come to Japan with Section Chief Im Si-chan. If there are people who are good at infiltration, include a few of them as well."