Eri leaned against Takuya Nakayama's shoulder, settling into a comfortable position.
"It's not fully dubbed yet. The translation team at Shochiku has been pulling all-nighters every day, and they've only managed to rush out the dubbing for the first ten or so episodes."
"Dubbing it as it airs? Is Father-in-law really in that much of a hurry?"
"How could he not be?" Eri pursed her lips. "The situation in Hong Kong has been so chaotic these past two weeks—Soros crashed the market, and the Hang Seng Index plummeted. The station's financial programs are analyzing the Hong Kong crisis every day, and the ratings are climbing higher and higher. Father said this is when the audience's emotions are at their most tense. We have to strike while the iron's hot, push the new drama out, and capture all this traffic."
"Father-in-law is treating the financial storm as the TV station's ratings code. What about the local stations in the TXN Network? Are they still complaining about the price this time?"
Eri burst out laughing, her tone tinged with a hint of smugness.
"How could they dare complain about the price now? When The Greed of Men premiered last time, they were stingy and refused to pay a cent, only to watch TV Tokyo make a fortune. This time, as soon as Father hinted that he was importing a new drama, the people from TV Aichi and TV Hokkaido flew straight to Tokyo with contracts in hand."
Eri speared a piece of melon and held it to Takuya Nakayama's lips.
"Father wanted to hold out for a better deal, but those station presidents just refused to leave his office. In the end, they all agreed to split the copyright and translation costs proportionally and premiere the show simultaneously across all networks."
"Fool me once, shame on you," Takuya said, taking a bite of the melon. "Since everyone's paying, how are the GG fees being handled?"
"For late-night B2B corporate GG, TV Tokyo takes the lion's share, and the local stations get a cut." Eri knew the TV stations' business inside out. "The tax planning and corporate consulting firms have been tasting success with TV Tokyo these past few months. When the new drama's sponsorship slots opened up, they were all snatched up in half a day."
The financial news on TV ended, and the GG segment began.
It was a parade of corporate service GGs.
"Providing you with the highest quality offshore company registration services—"
"SME debt restructuring—your partner in weathering the winter—"
Takuya watched the screen.
"Which one is airing this time?"
"The Silver Tycoon," Eri said, her eyes fixed on the screen. "Father said you recommended it to him. Is the main theme 'everyone's a villain'?"
Takuya nodded.
"It's an ATV drama. Even more extreme than The Greed of Men. There are no good guys—just schemes and interest exchanges. The crowd in Kabutocho eats that stuff up."
Eri shrunk her neck.
"I saw the trailer. The characters in there would do anything for money. It's too crazy."
"The real-world capital market is much crazier than any TV show." Takuya Nakayama picked up a napkin and wiped his hands. "The contract factories in Hong Kong are even misappropriating workers' wages to play the stock market. Now, everyone's lining up on the rooftops."
11:30 PM.
The GG ended, and TV Tokyo's logo flashed by.
A wave of nostalgic music swelled as the main feature of The Silver Tycoon officially began.
The screen opened with the bustling night scene of old Shanghai, followed immediately by a ruthless act of betrayal and scheming.
Duan Shaoxiang was betrayed by his most trusted friend, losing his entire fortune and ending up homeless on the streets.
The despair of falling from the clouds into the mud was portrayed by the male lead with breathtaking intensity.
Then, the camera cut to Duan Shaoxiang vowing revenge in his desperation, the muscles on his face twitching slightly, revealing a ruthless determination to stop at nothing until his goal was achieved.
No warmth, no moral bottom line.
Only naked desire and revenge.
In the drama, Duan Shaoxiang exploited Song Xueqi's greed, setting a nested trap and pressuring him step by step in the business world.
Eri gripped the sofa cushion as she watched the trading scenes on the screen.
"Is he shorting? He won't even spare his friend's company?"
"In the capital market, there are no friends—only interests." Takuya Nakayama pointed to the fluctuating numbers on the screen. "Look at his tactics. How are they any different from what Soros did in Hong Kong these past few days? First, spread false news to suppress the stock price, then accumulate shares at the low point, and finally, flip the script and short the stock. After this combination of moves, the opponent won't even know how they died."
Eri covered her mouth.
"No wonder Father scheduled this drama to air now. This is practically a live tutorial for all those retail investors."
"Hardly a tutorial. At most, it's a form of emotional catharsis." Takuya shifted his position. "After being slaughtered by market makers in the stock market all day, they get to watch the male lead go on a rampage on TV at night, driving his enemies to a dead end. This kind of vicarious satisfaction is far more effective than any pure romance drama."
Eri nodded in agreement.
"I thought he was vicious just now, but now I actually hope he bankrupts that villain quickly."
Takuya chuckled.
"That's the charm of a story where everyone is a villain. When everyone is rotten to the core, the audience will automatically side with the one who is smarter and more ruthless."
The first episode ended.
The plot moved at a breakneck pace, with no filler, tearing open the dark side of human nature for all to see.
As the ending theme song played, Eri let out a long breath and turned to look at Takuya.
"This show is so oppressive. But I'm actually dying to see how he'll get revenge on all those enemies one by one."
Takuya Nakayama stood up and cleared the fruit platter from the coffee table.
"That's exactly the effect Father-in-law wanted. He's dangling a carrot in front of the audience, making sure they'll be glued to their TV screens again tomorrow night."
Takuya carried the platter toward the kitchen.
"Do you have any business dinners tomorrow night?" Eri followed behind him.
"No, I'll be off work on time."
"Then you'll keep watching with me tomorrow," Eri declared, setting the rule.
Takuya turned on the faucet and rinsed the fruit platter.
The water rushed loudly.
From tonight onward, the entire Japanese financial sector and its corporate executives would have another reason to stay up late every night.
TV Tokyo's late-night slot had truly established its place.
The next day at noon.
Sunlight streamed through the living room's floor-to-ceiling windows, illuminating the solid wood dining table.
Eri brought over two plates of freshly pan-fried saury and placed them steadily on the table.
She untied her apron, sat down opposite Takuya, and grabbed the remote to turn on the TV.
The channel was tuned to TV Tokyo.
On the screen, the midday news anchor sat primly and formally. Behind him, the large screen was a chaotic mix of red and green, displaying the plummeting data of the Hong Kong Hang Seng Index.
The male anchor reported on the carnage in the Hong Kong financial markets with a rapid-fire delivery, rattling off a series of staggering losses.
After finishing this segment, he shifted gears and mentioned The Silver Tycoon, which had premiered on TV Tokyo's late-night slot the previous evening.
The scene cut to the streets of Kabutocho, Tokyo. A reporter, holding a microphone emblazoned with the TV Tokyo logo, stopped a middle-aged man who had just emerged from the Daiwa Securities building.
The man had a receding hairline and carried a briefcase. His tie was loosened, and his face was etched with exhaustion.
"Did you watch The Silver Tycoon last night?" the reporter asked, holding out the microphone.
The man nodded, adjusting his suit jacket.
"I did. The plot moves fast," he said, his tone measured and devoid of excitement, yet his meaning was clear. "The scene where Duan Shaoxiang is tricked into bankruptcy was very realistic. That's what happens when you trust the wrong person in business. The short-selling tactics were also depicted professionally—much more interesting than those pure romance dramas."
The camera then panned to the izakaya district near Shinbashi Station. This time, the interviewee was a younger trader. He pushed up his glasses and spoke animatedly into the camera.
"The 'all-villains' setup is really compelling. In the capital markets, you don't make money by being moral. The naked exchange of interests in the show is very accurate to the current economic climate."
The scene cut to the entrance of a large supermarket in Setagaya Ward.
A housewife pushing a stroller was stopped for an interview.
"I started watching it with my husband," she said, covering her mouth with a hand as she chuckled. "I thought it would be a dull corporate drama, but the characters are more ruthless than the last. There isn't a single good person in the bunch!"
The reporter pressed, "Do you find it off-putting?"
"Not really. If anything, it feels quite realistic," the housewife mused, offering her critique. "How else would they amass all that ill-gotten wealth? In today's society, the honest ones are the ones who get screwed over."
Eri picked up a piece of fish with her chopsticks and chewed it slowly.
After swallowing, she pointed to the television screen.
"See? Even the housewives are hooked. I was worried last night that such a dark theme would scare off female viewers."
Takuya Nakayama took a sip of his miso soup.
"This is where reality and fiction collide," he said, setting down the bowl and picking up his chopsticks. "It's been years since the bubble burst in Japan, yet the economy has shown no signs of recovery. With the recent turmoil in Southeast Asia and Hong Kong, people are simmering with frustration, plagued by uncertainty and anxiety about the future."
He took a bite of rice.
"They're sick of the old-school Japanese dramas where hard work always pays off and good triumphs over evil," Takuya explained. "They even find those stories hypocritical now. In contrast, the ruthless villains in The Silver Tycoon—who will do anything for profit—feel much more like the real world to them."
Eri nodded in agreement. "Father timed the broadcast perfectly. I called the station this morning, and the External Relations Department said the ratings aren't any lower than The Greed of Men was when it first aired."
"This is just the beginning," Takuya said, finishing his last mouthful of rice. "Once the plot advances a few more episodes and Duan Shaoxiang starts his revenge spree, the ratings will climb even higher."
A few days later, on a weekend afternoon.
Takuya sat on the living room rug, building Legos with Kazuki.
Beside them, Miki grabbed a red brick and tried to stuff it into her mouth. Takuya's quick reflexes snatched it away just in time.
The landline phone next to the sofa rang.
Eri came out of the kitchen, wiping her hands dry as she answered.
"Father?" Eri asked, her voice tinged with surprise.
Nakagawa Jun's voice was so loud over the phone that Takuya Nakayama, sitting on the carpet, could hear him clearly.
"Eri! Is Takuya there? Put him on!"
Eri handed the receiver to Takuya.
Takuya patted the dust off his hands, stood up, and took the phone.
"Father-in-law."
"Takuya! That B2B GG idea of yours was absolutely brilliant!" Nakagawa Jun's voice boomed from the other end, accompanied by the sound of him excitedly slamming his hand on the desk.
Takuya switched the phone to his other hand and walked over to the floor-to-ceiling window.
"Feedback from the GG merchants already?"
"Feedback? It's more than that! It's a complete frenzy!" Nakagawa Jun spoke rapidly, his voice brimming with uncontainable joy. "Representatives from several companies specializing in corporate tax planning and debt restructuring showed up at the station this morning."
Nakagawa Jun paused to take a sip of water.
"They said that since The Silver Tycoon started airing, their business inquiry lines have doubled! The operators don't even have time to drink water!"
Takuya leaned against the glass, gazing out at the courtyard.
"What's the conversion rate? Inquiries alone are useless."
"That's exactly why they came to the station!" Nakagawa Jun laughed. "Many of those inquiries have already led to preliminary agreements. The corporate bosses and executives who watch the show late at night are instructing their procurement or finance departments to contact them first thing the next morning. The deal sizes are staggering!"
Takuya Nakayama's lips curved into a smile.
"Then congratulations to my father-in-law. This brand is now firmly established."
"Exactly!" Nakagawa Jun couldn't contain his excitement. "The representatives from those companies made decisions on the spot. They're going to pour their entire second-half GG budget into our station's late-night slots. They even signed an exclusivity agreement, forbidding us from accepting GGs from their competitors."
"That's not allowed," Takuya Nakayama interrupted. "We can't sign exclusivity agreements. If they buy us out exclusively, they hold all the cards. What we want is a bidding war."
Nakagawa Jun froze on the other end of the line for a moment before the realization hit him.
"Right, right! No exclusivity. Right now, they're the ones begging us. We need to auction off the GG slots to the highest bidder!" Nakagawa Jun laughed and scolded, "You kid, you're much more ruthless in business than I am."
Takuya Nakayama watched the two children playing on the carpet.
"As long as they serve this batch of clients well and build a solid business foundation, they'll earn a reputation in the industry. Then, the late-night GG slots on TV Tokyo will become a hot commodity for corporate service providers. Even if the GG fees double, they'll still be fighting to pay."
"I understand," Nakagawa Jun's tone turned serious. "I've already notified the GG Department. From now on, all ad sales for the late-night slot will be heavily skewed toward B2B enterprises. TV Tokyo is going to own this market."
The two exchanged a few more words about the upcoming broadcast schedule before hanging up.
Takuya Nakayama returned the receiver to its cradle.
Eri approached, carrying a plate of sliced apples, and offered him a piece.
"Father is so happy. Is the station making a fortune again?"
Takuya took a bite of the apple, its crisp, juicy flesh bursting with flavor.
"The moat for our late-night slot is finally established," Takuya said, swallowing the fruit. "How can Fuji TV's prime-time pure love dramas compete with us in terms of profit now?"
Late September.
A black Toyota Crown cruised smoothly along the highway toward Shizuoka Prefecture.
In the backseat, Chuta Mitsui flipped to the final page of a bound technical proposal, carefully checking the signature and date before handing it to Takuya Nakayama with both hands.
"Managing Director, this is the preliminary design for the infrared-sensing transformation belt, rushed out by the Design Department overnight," Chuta Mitsui lowered his voice, trying not to disturb the driver in the front. "After your last hint, I immediately assembled a core team. They're very optimistic about this direction."
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