Echoes of Times Square

July 28, 1979. Henry stood by the window, gazing out at Times Square with a strange mix of emotions swirling inside him. The once-chaotic streets had now spiraled far beyond mere disorder into outright madness.

The original “1979 China Threat Theory” article published in The Time had been a dry collection of data and economic logic aimed at the intellectual class. But the newspapers that twisted it to suit their own agendas and blasted it across the country had unleashed a masterclass in fear marketing. The effect on the public was immediate and devastating.

In the Rust Belt, New York, California, and other regions where unions held real power, massive protests had already swallowed daily life whole.

‘I basically showed them the terror of China’s rise forty years early—something they weren’t supposed to face until the 2020s. If this is all that comes of it, maybe I should count myself lucky.’

Henry wore an uneasy smile. His original intention had been nothing more than a light slap on the wrist to correct China’s future arrogance. Instead, the situation had escalated to the point where it looked like it might produce America’s first impeached president.

‘Sorry about this, mister. We’ve never even met.’

The prophecies Henry had unleashed struck America’s middle class like an apocalyptic revelation. The leakage of cutting-edge semiconductor technology, the swamp of national debt that would soon exceed GDP, and the nightmarish synergy that would emerge when China’s massive scale combined with Japan’s precision manufacturing. He had even backed it all up with cold data showing how cheaper labor than Texas oil would swallow Michigan’s auto plants and Ohio’s steel mills.

While intellectuals trembled at the sophisticated logic, the public exploded over a single sensational headline the papers had cooked up:

That one line had awakened the dormant rage of the Rust Belt. The fear that today’s stagflation would eventually lead to the humiliation of becoming China’s subcontractor. The anxiety that America might have to surrender its “world police” badge and start begging created a furious wave.

Trade deficits, mounting government debt, skyrocketing unemployment, and the oil crisis. With every possible misfortune piling up, the China Threat Theory became the final nail in the Carter administration’s coffin.

Carter’s approval rating hit an all-time low, and the only potential achievement he could claim—the U.S.-China trade agreement—was battered by public opinion and postponed indefinitely.

‘If the Iran hostage crisis blows up on top of this… it’s really over.’

Henry sank deeper into the sofa, lost in thought.

‘Hang in there, big brother Carter. Otherwise you won’t just go down as incompetent—you’ll be remembered as the traitor who broke America’s destiny and get preserved in textbooks for eternity.’

With the U.S.-China trade agreement postponed indefinitely, China’s dream of becoming the world’s factory and its grand plan to attract massive foreign investment vanished like a mirage. The future of reform and opening that Henry had shattered with a single report now sank into a darkness where not even an inch ahead could be seen.

It was a colossal twist of history that even Henry, who knew the future, could barely imagine.

‘At the very least, their growth will definitely stagnate for several decades ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠compared to my previous life. So how far will my future knowledge remain valid?’

Henry quickly turned the gears in his mind, worried that the fragments of history he had stirred up might rob him of his regressor’s advantage. But the conclusion came as quickly as it had last time.

‘No, there’s no problem at all. Until the 1990s, China’s economy is still just a storm in a teacup compared to America. The Tiananmen Square incident is still on the schedule, and they only began threatening the U.S. with high-tech and rising as a true G2 after the mobile revolution in 2010. I still have an overwhelming thirty-year head start.’

Thirty years. ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠That was more than enough time to rise higher than any tycoon from his previous life. By then, Henry would probably be working even harder to hide his astronomical wealth from the media’s eyes.

Thinking about it further, even if the China he knew were erased from history, the core drivers of American progress—the internet and the mobile revolution—weren’t going anywhere. In other words, while the detailed curves of history might twist, the great currents of technological development would remain unchanged.

‘The speed at which semiconductor integration increases, the spread of PCs and the arrival of the internet, the smartphone era, and eventually artificial intelligence and virtual reality… None of that depends on whether China exists or not. These are inevitable destinations.’

Henry let out a sigh filled with both relief and the thrill of having changed the future with his own hands. He opened his notebook and began to write.

The impeachment chants outside were loud enough to make his ears ring, but ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠Henry was already picturing the future Times Square he would recreate. With light steps, he turned toward the Enjoy office.

.

.

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Staring at the Pocket Enjoy that had been developed at lightspeed in just two months at Enjoy, Henry once again felt a strange wave of emotion wash over him. The result of charging forward without hesitation to seize the market was right before his eyes, but the process had been a continuous cold sweat even for someone who had lived as a 21st-century salaryman.

The biggest hurdle had been selecting the brain of the device—the CPU.

Not long after the meeting ended, Henry had shot down the engineers’ suggestion to use a standard 8-bit chip.

“Power consumption is way too high. Our goal is to run for at least a month on just two LR44 mercury batteries.”

He had pointed out the problem, but the real issue was that low-power CMOS 4-bit chips weren’t even on the market yet. They existed in prototype form, but commercialization was still far off. Only then did he understand why the engineers had pushed for 8-bit chips—there simply weren’t any other viable options.

Wiping away cold sweat, Henry recalled how dizzying that moment had been. This was the price of starting a company without first verifying whether the novel’s historical details were accurate.

He immediately mobilized his family office and think tank to make emergency contact with Japan’s Sarp. He had been terrified that Nintendour might have already marked their territory, but fortunately they hadn’t even approached the threshold yet.

The negotiation was explosive. After three days of fierce back-and-forth, the deal was sealed on the fourth.

The more Henry reflected on it, the more he understood why Sarp had been so submissive, and he couldn’t help but chuckle.

At the time, Sarp had been suffering from a double whammy: an LCD production line running at rock-bottom utilization and a new chipset with no distribution channels. Henry had driven a stake straight ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠into that weakness.

He secured a promise for priority supply of the not-yet-mass-produced low-power CMOS 4-bit chips and the entire LCD panel output. While Henry believed he had put a collar around their neck, from Sarp’s perspective it was a miraculous lifeline. He was buying their entire stock of soon-to-be-dead inventory and even offering to pay for consignment production on their idle factory lines.

The secret side agreement Henry offered convinced Sarp’s management that “a blind sucker from America has appeared.” The image of Japanese companies in the U.S. at the time was at its absolute worst. Even when they brought bags of money, major advertising agencies refused their business.

In that climate, Henry’s offer to guarantee ad space in The Time, America’s most prestigious magazine, was pure cheat code. Even though Sarp had to pay for the ads, the promise of securing that golden real estate paralyzed their reason.

In the end, both sides looked at each other convinced they had gotten the better deal, creating a bizarre yet perfectly balanced win-win contract.

‘I think I lost a bit because I rushed the contract without doing proper research, but thanks to that our baby was born this quickly, so I’ll call it even. Still…’

The first principle Henry had established while creating the Pocket Enjoy was crystal clear: market domination.

Knowing full well that Nintendour would achieve worldwide success with Watch & Pocket in the future, he intended to snatch that honey-pot market entirely for himself.

The second principle was a flashy showcase for the D-pad patent. He planned to make every game console company use the cross key just like in his previous life, then sit back and collect licensing royalties.

Because of that, cost and profitability were completely irrelevant. Taking full advantage of his 100% ownership, Henry pushed through every practical obstacle like a dictator riding a bulldozer.

“Alright. Here’s our mockup and the temporary blueprints I drew up. Refine them based on this and move straight into mold production.”

“Yes, boss. Um… these measurements—are they in millimeters, not inches?”

“We’re manufacturing in Japan. No need to use inches. From now on, the metric system will be our standard.”

‘Damn those inches! Feet! Gallons!’

From the very beginning, after partnering with Sarp and using his own designs as the prototype, separate teams for molds, hardware, and LCD worked around the clock. The product’s shape took form day by day.

“Boss, if we force a 3.5mm headphone jack in here, the cost will be unbearable.”

“Just do it.”

‘Soon Shony’s Walkman is going to explode in popularity. Everyone will be carrying headphones. If our device doesn’t have a jack, it’ll be completely useless.’

Every decision was made by pure fiat rather than discussion or persuasion.

“Boss, shouldn’t we reduce the screen size a little? Sarp is having yield issues and the manufacturing cost…”

“If we shrink it that pathetically, what is it, a desk clock? Our company aims for first-class even when making just one thing!”

‘I’m not trying to make pocket change selling game consoles. My investment returns are going to bring in billions of dollars anyway. Who cares if we sell a few more units? All that matters is seizing the market first and then sweetly sucking on the D-pad licensing honey pot.’

By focusing firepower solely on speed and performance rather than profitability, Enjoy’s development progress skyrocketed at a pace that defied imagination.

But Henry suddenly wore a slightly awkward expression and fell into thought.

‘No matter how I look at it, didn’t I just take a massive dump on Nintendour’s future path? At this rate, Sarp probably won’t even have the capacity to cooperate with them…’

In his previous life, Nintendour had risen to become a gaming giant thanks to the massive hit of their handheld console. Before that, they had been a company that only made hanafuda cards. Everything they touched—from toys to taxis, love hotels, baby strollers, and even instant rice—had failed, driving them to the brink of bankruptcy.

It was only after factory maintenance engineer Gunpei Yokoi suggested partnering with Sarp that they released Watch & Game.

But now Henry had completely taken Sarp, their key partner. He wondered whether the current Nintendour, lacking both technology and capital, could even create a proper game console at all.

‘I might have prevented them from even making the thing, yet here I am congratulating myself for seizing the market first…’