October 16, 2007, was a Tuesday.
The sky over New York was gray that day, as though the city had been draped in a layer of charcoal-colored gauze.
Marvel chairman Isaac Perlmutter's mood was exactly the same as the weather outside.
Once everyone had taken their seats in the conference room, he leaned back in the chair at the head of the table and began tapping his fingers against the tabletop. With a gloomy expression, he said, "Everyone, I gathered you here today mainly because I want you to help me analyze the current situation.
"All of you already know what happened to me and what led up to it.
"I can only tell you that I'm deeply troubled right now. Extremely troubled.
"So troubled that I only want to hear the truth."
In fact, ever since Isaac Perlmutter learned that his backer was in no position to save him, his life, or rather, his entire existence, had been consumed by fear and unease.
After all, his past recklessness and bloodthirsty madness had never been founded on the size of his own fists or the strength of his own abilities! It was purely because the backer behind him was extraordinarily powerful!
When his backer was one of the true powers of the United States, he could do whatever he wanted!
You objected?
Then do not blame him for punishing you in God's name!
But one day, after causing trouble and returning to call for reinforcements, his backer suddenly told him that he had offended someone he should never have provoked? That crushing him would be easier for the other side than killing a newborn chick? Because their backer was even more powerful than his own?
Holy shit.
Wasn't that the same as dancing on the edge of a cliff because his good days were over?
Any normal person would become nervous and anxious after realizing that their death was imminent!
When their nerves were stretched to the breaking point, some people might even decide that a quick death was better than prolonged suffering. Since sticking their head out would get it cut off and pulling it back would do the same, they might as well die early and be reborn sooner! Eighteen years later, they would be a great man once again!
Of course—
Isaac Perlmutter was not that kind of person.
He had no desire to embrace death early!
Or rather, he did not want to die at all. He wanted to enjoy wealth and status forever!
Precisely because his desire to survive was so strong, he wanted to confront the problem as soon as possible.
The logic should have been easy to understand, right?
Both sides' backers stood at the same unsurpassable level, even if there were differences between players at the top, Isabella Haywood's backer could not simply crush Isaac Perlmutter to death without saying a word;
even when beating a dog, one had to consider its master!
Under those circumstances, if Isaac Perlmutter had any chance of survival, then having the other shoe drop sooner and resolving the conflict earlier would allow him to regain peace of mind as quickly as possible.
Unfortunately,
after Isabella announced that she had accepted his declaration of war, she had ignored him completely.
And that
was incredibly frustrating!
What?
Someone was asking why, since he was already prepared to kneel and apologize, he could not simply slide directly in front of Isabella and shout, "Mommy! Your son wants to take care of you in your old age!"
He had already accepted that he and Isabella were enemies!
When he already regarded all of Isabella's actions as retaliation and believed that she intended to crush him to death, what would happen if he approached her to negotiate peace? Would his display of weakness become a signal telling Isabella that it was safe to kill him?
Therefore, throughout the past month and a half, nearly two months,
Isaac Perlmutter, who had received no response from Isabella, had been unable to eat or sleep properly.
The nightmarish state had nearly driven him insane!
Just as he felt that the suffocating pressure was about to make him explode, he gathered his team of advisers, hoping they could offer suggestions and devise a way to resolve the situation. As for that,
the moment Isaac Perlmutter finished speaking, everyone's gaze began drifting around the room.
They exchanged looks.
These people had worked with Isaac Perlmutter for many years. Some handled his public relations, others were his lawyers, advisers, or assistants. Therefore, they all knew that what their boss needed most right now was reassurance.
So—
"Isaac, personally, I think Isabella may have forgotten about the conflict between us.
"After all, she appears to have plenty of free time right now."
Isaac Perlmutter's public-relations manager, a white man in his fifties, clasped his hands together and spoke sincerely. "According to information from Warner, Isabella completed all of her scenes in The Order of the Phoenix at the beginning of September.
"And it is already the middle of October.
"When she has both the time and energy to deal with us but still has not acted,
"forgetting about it may be the most reasonable explanation."
The moment he said this, everyone in the room turned toward the public-relations manager.
Quite a few people looked at him with admiration.
His statement was extremely bold.
This man actually dared to attribute Isabella's "silence" to "forgetfulness"?
Oh, shit.
That comparison was practically an insult!
Only when the difference in strength between two sides was overwhelmingly vast could one side simply "forget" its conflict with the other.
To put it another way,
such forgetfulness was actually the contempt of a superior toward someone beneath them.
"Are you certain?"
Although Isaac Perlmutter understood the insulting implication behind his public-relations manager's words, he did not care about such details at the moment.
After all, even his backer had told him that he could not defeat Isabella.
So the only thing he cared about now was the situation itself. "Take-Two was completely privatized by Isabella at the end of August.
"When someone who does not develop games has already spent 2.5 billion dollars in the gaming industry,
"do you really think she could have forgotten the conflict between us?"
Isaac Perlmutter stared intently at his public-relations manager.
Faced with the question, the man immediately replied, "Isaac, I remember that we discussed this before.
"Marvel's market capitalization is only three billion dollars, Isabella spending 2.5 billion to acquire a gaming company may have nothing to do with us."
"But what if it was aimed at us?"
Isaac Perlmutter frowned deeply and continued pressing him.
The public-relations manager pursed his lips, unable to respond.
If Isaac Perlmutter insisted on clinging to his assumption, only God descending from heaven would be able to persuade him otherwise.
As for that—
"Isaac."
Seeing that the atmosphere had become tense, an elderly white man around Isaac Perlmutter's age, seated beside him, spoke. "Have you considered the possibility that Isabella never intended to openly turn against you in the first place?"
"?"
The statement immediately attracted everyone's interest.
Isaac Perlmutter also turned toward him. "What do you mean?"
"My meaning is simple."
The speaker was one of Isaac Perlmutter's advisers. After realizing that he had become the center of attention in the conference room, he spread his hands and said, "First, we need to establish one fact. Every judgment we have made so far has been based on the assumption that Isabella intends to attack us. But what if Isabella never intended to attack us at all?
"I'm not saying Isabella is a good person, nor am I saying she is not vicious. What I mean is, she is extremely intelligent.
"If we carefully examine her history, we can see that Isabella is a remarkably mature and cautious young woman. She only attacks prey that she knows she can kill with ease."
At this point, the elderly adviser suddenly stopped.
He opened the briefcase he had brought with him and distributed the documents he had prepared to everyone present.
After confirming that everyone in the conference room had seen Isabella's record of conflicts over the years, the adviser continued, "Isabella debuted in 2000. Over the past eight years, she has fought against many people, including Harvey Weinstein and Bob Weinstein, the founders of Miramax;
"Robert Shaye, the founder of New Line Cinema;
"Bernd Eichinger, the founder of Constantin Film and Summit Entertainment;
"Ted Turner, the founder of Turner Broadcasting, and Steve Case, the founder of AOL;
"Michael Eisner, Disney's former emperor; Edgar Bronfman Jr., the former owner of Universal;
"Rupert Murdoch, the founder of News Corporation; Mark Zuckerberg, the founder of Facebook; and many others.
"However, even though Isabella won every battle involving those people, the only ones who truly disappeared or suffered complete ruin were the Weinstein brothers, Eminem, Universal Music chairman Doug Morris, the founding family of News Corporation, and the currently fashionable social-media company Facebook."
"When New Line's Robert Shaye was allowed to leave the table under the pretext of retirement, when AOL founder Steve Case and Turner Broadcasting founder Ted Turner could leave Time Warner with enormous sums of money, and when Michael Eisner and Edgar Bronfman Jr. can still occasionally appear in public,"
The elderly adviser drew out his words.
Only after everyone in the conference room turned toward him did he shrug and say, "Personally, I believe Isabella chooses her approach according to the person she is dealing with.
"When facing people of ordinary strength, she decisively crushes them to death."
"But when she faces someone genuinely powerful?"
"Most of the time, she plays along with them and quietly reaches an understanding."
At this point, the elderly adviser paused.
He raised his eyebrows and winked at everyone looking at him.
His clear and logical analysis brought smiles to everyone's faces!
"Oh, I think you're right!
"The only reason Isabella destroyed Rupert Murdoch was that he was asking for death! After he repeatedly threw three punches at her, anyone would have found him irritating!"
"Exactly! If I put myself in Isabella's position, I would have killed him too!"
"I know what happened with Edgar Bronfman Jr. After leaving Vivendi Universal, he acquired EMI!"
"Oh, I know about that too! He's now the chairman of EMI Music. Once he stopped causing trouble for Isabella, Isabella showed no intention of seeking further revenge against him!"
"So, hiss, looking at it this way, hasn't Isabella spent all these years merely defending herself?"
"Uh? It seems that really is the case."
"..."
As the discussion continued, everyone suddenly realized that Isabella's fearsome reputation seemed to have been forced upon her, that dark capitalism had insisted on turning a person into a monster. The atmosphere instantly became somewhat awkward.
Because judging from the present situation, they were the representatives of dark capitalism.
Isabella was the one representing love and justice.
So even if Isabella killed every one of them, she would merely be carrying out Heaven's will?
Ahem, ahem.
They definitely could not say that aloud!
While everyone wore strange expressions, the adviser smiled at Isaac Perlmutter. "Isaac, the main reason I'm telling you all this is that Edgar Bronfman Jr. is still alive.
"We all know that Edgar Bronfman Jr.'s maternal grandmother belonged to the Lehman family.
"So when Isabella showed no intention of confronting him from beginning to end,
"doesn't that demonstrate that she is extremely intelligent and knows how to judge the situation?"
"Yes!
"She is certainly powerful now!
"She can already control global public opinion at such a young age!
"But—
"compared with old-money families that genuinely possess private armies, she is still missing a few arms factories and private-security groups of her own, isn't she?
"So is it possible that everything she did before, and all the strength she has displayed now, was merely intended to make us stop targeting her? After all, she must know that Lehman is your backer.
"Of course, you could argue that Lehman is currently facing serious problems and that she might attack you while you are weakened—"
"..."
"But regarding that, I would like to point out that the federal government announced a clear rescue plan yesterday."
Yesterday, October 15, 2007, Citigroup, Bank of America, and JPMorgan Chase announced plans to establish a Master Liquidity Enhancement Conduit worth as much as eighty billion dollars, providing liquidity to structured investment vehicles.
Once that news emerged, the words "market rescue" appeared openly before everyone.
With that funding serving as a backstop, Bear Stearns, Merrill Lynch, and Lehman Brothers would all be able to survive their difficulties unharmed. Or rather, this was a decision forced upon the federal government by Wall Street: they were preparing to sail an aircraft carrier around the world and generously deliver their "kindness" to everyone.
Line up and buy our US Treasury bonds!
What?
Someone refused?
Anyone who opposed them was a terrorist organization threatening world peace!
At that point, the financial crisis would become the celebration of the century for financial and military-industrial capital!
After all, once terrorist organizations appeared, could a hot war be far behind?
And a hot war
was the ultimate miracle drug for capital!
Scrape!
The moment the adviser finished speaking, Isaac Perlmutter shot to his feet!
His face was glowing with excitement!
It was as though his entire body had been enchanted with a strengthening potion!
"That's right!
"Isabella doesn't attack everyone! If she could even spare Robert Shaye, Ted Turner's representative, why would she keep attacking me when Lehman is backing me?
"So
"she only displayed her strength because she wanted to coexist peacefully with me?
"Oh,
"if that's true, haven't I spent two whole months worrying for absolutely nothing?"
The moment Isaac Perlmutter sprang to his feet, he felt as though his entire body had been cleared of every blockage!
Because once his feet left the ground, the virus shut down, and his brilliant intelligence reclaimed the high ground!
No,
he simply thought his adviser's analysis was completely correct!
But after repeating it to himself several times, he became irritated again!
The thought that he had trapped himself in a dead end from the very beginning and wasted two months worrying made him feel as though he had lived his entire life like a dog! His mental composure was utterly terrible!
Still, if all of his fears had merely been a false alarm, then—
"If Isabella never intended to attack me and only wanted to frighten me, why hasn't she contacted me after frightening me?"
"Uh, Isaac, are you saying she still hasn't answered whether she intends to cooperate with Xbox?"
"Yeah."
"Mm. I think she may want to produce some concrete results before negotiating with you."
"What do you mean?"
"It's simple. Isabella clearly likes Marvel and sincerely wants to develop it properly. Since she doesn't want to become your enemy, she can only fundamentally overturn Marvel's proposed partnership with Microsoft by producing tangible results, right?"
"Uh, you mean she acquired Take-Two merely to persuade us through reason? She wants to produce an excellent game and show Marvel's shareholders that following her will make us money, thereby convincing us to abandon the idea of negotiating with Microsoft entirely?"
"Yes. After all, Microsoft is her genuine enemy. Didn't she just wipe Facebook out?"
"Oh, if that's the case, then I can finally relax."
Honestly, the reason Isaac Perlmutter had previously fallen into such panic was that he was afraid of dying.
Therefore, when he discovered that he might not die after all,
the ruthlessness of a man willing to slaughter everyone beneath Heaven instantly returned to his face!
After calming down, he resumed analyzing the current situation with his advisers.
Eventually, he concluded that Isabella would contact him before the end of the year.
Iron Man was scheduled for release the following summer. Therefore, if Isabella wanted to profit from the associated merchandise, she would need to secure all of the project's development rights before the end of the year.
And if she intended to negotiate with him before then?
The tangible results she could present would most likely be related to The God of Cookery.
At this thought, Isaac Perlmutter's face immediately filled with arrogance.
"Hmph, I'd like to see what kind of game she can produce in only half a year!
"I refuse to believe she can make a game even more impressive than Halo 3!"
Before he had even finished speaking, he turned toward his secretary. "Keep a close watch on her.
"I want to know every move she makes."
"Okay." The secretary nodded repeatedly.
Since the boss had given the order, the secretary naturally watched Isabella closely. He became his employer's eyes, observing the outside world and attempting to determine whether Isabella's hidden intentions matched their predictions.
And Isabella,
really did make a move!
On October 31, 2007, Isabella attended a public event.
She accompanied J. K. Rowling to the launch and book-signing event for Harry Potter's final volume, Deathly Hallows.
Immediately afterward,
a magnitude-nine earthquake struck the global cultural world!
Within only twenty-four hours of Deathly Hallows officially going on sale, it sold 9.3 million copies in the United States and 2.96 million copies in Britain. Its worldwide sales exceeded twenty million copies in twenty-four hours!
No one before or after it would ever achieve such a result!
After all, physical media was already dead!
The book market appeared prosperous only because Harry Potter was unbelievably powerful!
When these figures reached Isaac Perlmutter, his heart rose into his throat once again.
There was nothing he could do. The twenty-four-hour revenue of Deathly Hallows had effortlessly crushed Halo 3!
So when Isabella's core audience already numbered six billion,
perhaps she really could produce a world-shaking, god-defying game in only half a year?
"Damn.
"Life is truly unbearable."
Isaac Perlmutter stared at the report and sighed heavily.
However, while he was lost in thought, time quietly advanced to November 16, 2007.
That day marked the worldwide premiere of The Order of the Phoenix: Part One.