[The characters, places, organizations, events, and other elements appearing in this work bear no relation to reality and are fictional creations of the author’s imagination.]
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On the list of doughnut companies, he spotted [Duncan Donuts], which would be sold in the 2020s for the astonishing sum of 11.3 billion dollars. Though it was still rolling around at the bottom right now, Henry knew its future value, so he contentedly left a check mark beside it.
When he moved on to the coffee list, there were no sophisticated café brands like the [Starbicks] Henry had been hoping for. In America in 1979, even the very concept of café culture was still faint. The list was packed only with dreary powdered coffee companies, so Henry flipped the page without a second thought.
As expected, the hamburger category was firmly held by the majors, [MacDunald] and [Burger Queen]. They would still be kings in the future, but even now their price tags were far too high. The 200-million-dollar [Wendy’s] and the 80-million-dollar [Hargas], said to have a firm grip on the South and Midwest, caught his eye, but for some reason the name [Hargas] reminded him of diapers from the start, putting him off. On top of that, its logo with a single strange star in it had a level of recognition so unfamiliar that he had never seen it even in his previous life.
‘If I’m going to burn money on [Wendy’s], which doesn’t have much growth potential anyway, I’d rather add a bit more and buy [KFD], the future king of chicken.’
The pizza side, unexpectedly, had quite a few gems. [Pizza Hot] was expensive, but [Domiso Pizza], which had yet to pass through its growth phase and was on the market for only 80 million dollars, was attractive enough. Thinking it would be perfect to bring along at least one pizza brand when he later entered the Japanese market, Henry moved the relevant documents to the important list.
Just as he finished organizing everything, Bart finally signaled that he had been connected to Uncle David. From beyond the receiver came the smooth, well-oiled voice of a seasoned banker.
“Oh, Henry. I’m sorry I haven’t been able to look after you carefully all this time. At the funeral, seeing you overcome with grief, I wanted to offer you some comfort, but our relationship was so awkward that I couldn’t bring myself to approach. Even now, I’d like to do my duty as your uncle.”
“You’re too kind, Uncle.”
“I’m relieved to hear you seem to have regained your spirits, but some time ago I received a report from the working staff that you had applied for a large loan. Since you put up the Devenzer family’s trust beneficiary rights as collateral, the bank has no reason whatsoever to refuse, but as your uncle, I couldn’t help but worry. Henry, has something happened?”
“No, nothing at all. I’m simply too young to hide behind a trust and only collect dividends. From now on, I intend to step forward and grow a company with my own hands.”
“Mm. You mean that game console company. Haa... Henry, you’re still far too young, and because you graduated from that... unfamiliar university out West, it seems your sense of reality has dulled a little. Have you never thought about why the Devenzers have, for generations, remained quiet rulers instead of stepping into the foreground?”
“I know. It must have been to avoid the vulgar jealousy of the public. Uncle, the Rockefellers and Morgans use a similar strategy in the end, don’t they? But I’m too young to live such a quiet life. While I’m young, I want to take on a real challenge. Even within the family, the atmosphere seems to be that 45 million dollars is better treated as an expensive education fee, and that I should do as I please. Of course, I have not the slightest intention of failing.”
“Whew... Hearing that confident voice of yours, I can tell there’s no way I’ll persuade you over the phone. As it happens, I’m away on business, so let’s meet at the New York social season events in September and talk properly then. Well, 45 million dollars isn’t a large sum to the Devenzer family, so if one thinks of it as expensive tuition, it does make things easier to swallow. Still, if you need help, don’t hesitate to contact me. You are my nephew, and a descendant in whom Rockefeller blood flows.”
“Yes, I understand, Uncle. But even you won’t be able to break my stubbornness. I can’t very well not start something when success is so obvious, can I? Let’s discuss the details when we meet. If I ever need major help, I’ll contact you. Enjoy the rest of your vacation.”
Only after ending the burdensome call with Uncle David did Henry let out a long sigh of relief.
‘Haa, that was suffocating. So this is what it feels like to talk to that legendary mastermind who supposedly appears the moment he smells oil.’
In any novel, Rockefeller was depicted as a hidden ruler manipulating the world economy from the shadows. Not only the countless conspiracy theories from his previous life, but also the eerie achievement of having undergone no fewer than seven organ transplant surgeries and lived out his natural span to the age of 101, had been more than enough to carve the image of “an old man you absolutely do not want to get involved with” into Henry’s mind. Though they were blood relatives, to Henry he was an existence even less trustworthy than a complete stranger.
‘Contact him if I need help? Why bother? Me?’
Henry grimaced, set down the receiver, and looked out the window.
‘Phew, still, I suppose I got past a major hurdle. Anyway, everyone keeps talking about vacations.’
After his possession, the ecosystem of New York high society that Henry came to understand was quite elaborately structured. The final week of June was, for them, practically no different from the last day before school vacation. The calendar of New York high society was divided by month with razor-sharp precision.
February to March = Vacation season
April to June = Charity and sports
July to August = Vacation season
September to November = Social season
December to January = Year-end parties and New Year gatherings
February to March was the winter vacation season, while April to June was the season for charity events and sports, with the Super Bowl and Easter as the main events of that period. And the approaching months of July and August were the long-awaited summer vacation season. During this time, if one failed to leave New York and hole up in a villa, it was easy to be called a “poor wretch whose wallet has gone bust” among the upper class.
‘Playing head of the family is exhausting too. If I try to get any work done in July or August, everyone’s off having fun, aren’t they?’
The social season beginning in September was even more absurd. From opera openings to museum galas, board meetings, and all sorts of gatherings, a breathless schedule continued all the way until November. When Henry declared at the family meeting, “I’ll do it only this year and quit,” it had not been simple bravado. Even by the standards of his previous life as an office worker, this was a schedule in which work-life balance had completely collapsed.
December and January were comparatively lighter months, with year-end parties and New Year gatherings, but to Henry, these upper-class rules that were just beginning to unfold felt like nothing more than annoying homework.
Even this alone made Henry feel the schedule was so tight it choked him. From museum fundraisers with unfamiliar names to opera galas, the cost of maintaining the shell called high society was higher than he had expected.
‘They say there’s no such thing as a free lunch, and it turns out being born with a silver spoon isn’t an easy job either. At this point, isn’t this practically on the level of a celebrity specializing in events?’
Henry felt that if he accumulated enough points later, he would like to create even a clone with the setting of being his younger brother. He wanted to send that guy in his place to those horribly authoritarian occasions that even Bart could not attend for him, where only someone of Devenzer blood was allowed to appear. If possible, he was even planning to hand over the entire trust business as well. After all, there was certainly a limit to a person’s nerves.
For now, since he had only two companies, [Enjoy] and [Henry1 Capital], he occasionally looked through the trust documents. But once he began the regressor’s characteristic octopus-legged expansion in earnest, it was obvious that the leisure he could devote to something like a trust would converge toward zero.
‘Even now, luxury brands are only this cheap, so they’re tempting, and when I look at the value of other companies, I keep thinking, Wait, this is this cheap? So octopus-legged expansion is inevitable, right? I mean, it’s something that makes money just by owning it. How could I not earn that?’
Of course, thanks to the health and knowledge he had gained from his stats, his stamina and mental strength were far superior to others’, so if he ground down even his soul, he could probably take care of everything. But Henry did not want to live such a life with no breathing room.
‘I’m trying to get rich so I can laze around comfortably, not so I can be crushed to death by work.’
Fortunately, after he pushed a fair portion of greetings and formalities onto Bart and the elders, the piles of trust-related documents decreased significantly. The family elders might be whispering behind his back that “the young head of the family is negligent,” but Henry did not care. The trust’s authority was concentrated one hundred percent in his hands, and even if a problem arose, he was confident he could handle it with overwhelming power.
‘If I catch someone skimming off the top, I just have to lop off their head a few times. Later on, I can put a clone in to manage it anyway.’
Thanks to that, freed from trust duties, Henry was able to focus more on [Enjoy]. On his way to work, he would drop by once in a while and clear bottlenecks in prototype production. The knowledge from the countless game console startup novels he had read in his previous life became a perfect strategy guide for Henry. As long as it was not a subtle friction in human relationships, every problem was solved as if by magic at Henry’s fingertips, and the company’s foundation was taking shape at a frightening speed under his guidance.
As for the investment company... Henry closed his eyes and pictured the silver chart in his mind.
‘The knowledge stat really is a cheat. A real-time chart linked inside my head—this is practically on the level of a map hack, isn’t it?’