The representative paused, leaning forward to lock eyes with the manager.
"After watching the show, viewers are left with nothing but the fear of shrinking assets and overnight bankruptcy. What do they need most at that moment? A reliable safe haven for their money! Whoever can put the right financial products in front of them first will seize the largest market share. Nomura is determined to take that top spot!"
The manager took a deep breath and, without hesitation, grabbed the imported fountain pen on his desk.
"It's a deal then. Looking forward to a successful partnership."
3:00 PM.
Sega Headquarters Building, Executive Office.
Takuya Nakayama sat in a spacious leather swivel chair, reviewing the capital repatriation report just delivered by the Investment Department.
The staggering figure of four hundred million US dollars in the offshore account had been fully verified and secured.
Rring—
The telephone on his desk suddenly rang urgently.
Takuya picked up the receiver.
Nakagawa Jun's ecstatic laughter exploded from the receiver.
"Hahaha! Takuya! You've scored another major victory for the station!"
Takuya Nakayama smiled faintly and leaned back in his chair, his posture completely relaxed.
"Judging by your tone, the ratings report is out?"
"Out? More than out! It's beyond all expectations—it's left everyone stunned!" Nakagawa Jun was so excited he was slamming his hand on the desk, creating a series of muffled thuds. "Guess how much the ratings for the second episode jumped compared to the first?"
"Thirty percent?" Takuya guessed a number casually.
"They doubled! A full one hundred percent increase!" Nakagawa Jun's voice cracked with emotion.
Takuya raised an eyebrow, a flicker of surprise crossing his eyes. The results were even better than he had anticipated.
Nakagawa Jun eagerly began to describe the madness of the past two days.
"During the day, every investor and ordinary citizen in Japan was glued to the news of the Baht's plummet, their hearts pounding with fear. Then, when they dragged their exhausted bodies home at night, they tuned in just in time to catch our station broadcasting The Greed of Men."
"The opening scene of the first episode, where that man jumps off the building, completely stunned the men who had just witnessed the financial turmoil during the day! They watched the Baht plummet by day, and Ting Hai throw his son off a building by night." Nakagawa Jun marveled, his voice filled with admiration. "This perfect synchronization between reality and drama has completely captured the audience's emotions! The station's hotlines haven't stopped ringing since the first episode aired—everyone's calling to ask what happens next!"
Takuya Nakayama tapped his fingers lightly on the leather armrest, a satisfied smile curving his lips.
Nakagawa Jun continued excitedly, "The most crucial part is the terrifying speed at which this word-of-mouth is spreading! Many viewers watched it on the first day and then rushed to their offices the next to frantically recommend it to their colleagues. It's not just the finance crowd watching it anymore!"
"Even the housewives are hooked?" Takuya Nakayama asked with a light chuckle.
"Exactly! Didn't Eri stay up late watching it last night?" Nakagawa Jun laughed heartily. "The family feuds and love-hate dramas in the show are just too captivating for those housewives! Now, in many households, the men are watching the stock market battles while the women watch the upper-class drama. Everyone's sitting in the same living room, and they actually have something to talk about!"
This explosive, cross-demographic viral success cemented TV Tokyo's position as the undisputed champion of late-night ratings.
But the real windfall was yet to come.
"The Ad Department was absolute chaos this morning," Nakagawa Jun said, his voice low but his smugness impossible to hide. "Representatives from several major companies nearly came to blows."
Takuya Nakayama lifted his coffee, still warm, and took a leisurely sip.
"Nomura Securities and Daiwa Fund showed up?"
"Not just showed up—they came ready to sign checks!" Nakagawa Jun scoffed. "Those financial capitalists have noses sharper than hounds. The moment they saw the last two days' ratings, they knew this show's audience was their prime target demographic. Now, none of them will back down from fighting for the prime-time ad slots!"
Several major fund and securities firms had made immediate decisions, aggressively increasing their advertising budgets for the second half of the year just to secure their spots.
"This money not only covers the meager costs of purchasing the copyright and post-production translation, but also brought the station a huge profit—our earnings have multiplied more than tenfold!" Nakagawa Jun exclaimed, his tone then shifting to heavy sarcasm. "Back then, those local stations in the TXN Network refused to chip in, complaining about this and that. This morning, the president of TV Aichi had the nerve to call me, hinting that he wanted a piece of the pie. I shut him down with a single sentence!"
Takuya Nakayama chuckled softly, his eyes narrowing thoughtfully.
"Since they refused to take even the slightest risk back then, they naturally have no share in today's generous profits. Business is like a battlefield; there's no such thing as a guaranteed win without risk."
"Exactly!" Nakagawa Jun agreed wholeheartedly. "By the way, over the past two days, not only the late-night slot but even the daytime financial programs have seen their ratings soar. When viewers call in, they don't even ask about their own stocks anymore. Instead, they're all fiercely debating whether the Southeast Asian financial crisis will spread to Japan. Some are even seriously comparing Soros and Ting Hai, analyzing their trading strategies!"
An old imported drama had somehow managed to boost the ratings of TV Tokyo's entire financial news block—a feat that was nothing short of a miracle in the industry.
After a few more minutes of small talk, Nakagawa Jun reminded Takuya to bring Eri and the kids home for dinner this weekend, then hung up.
In an izakaya near Shinbashi Station.
As night deepened, the narrow shop filled with a mix of cooking grease and the malty scent of cheap beer, making it hard to keep one's eyes open.
But tonight, the atmosphere was unusually somber, devoid of the usual post-work revelry.
A television mounted above the bar was broadcasting TV Tokyo's WBS Financial News.
A stream of red and green data—startling and stark—scrolled across the bottom of the screen. The anchor's rapid-fire delivery conveyed an urgent sense of an impending storm.
Tanaka downed a large gulp of draft beer and slammed the glass onto the greasy wooden table with a heavy thud.
"Did you see last night's episode? The part where Ting Hai bankrupts Chan Man-yin!" Tanaka wiped the foam from his lips, his eyes still buzzing with the excitement of staying up late to watch the show.
Sato chewed a piece of grilled chicken, swallowing it with difficulty. It tasted bland and utterly unappealing.
"I've seen it. It's damn weird," Sato sighed. "My wife's glued to the TV every day now. She's even skipped her baths, and she's taking notes more seriously than when she studied for the college entrance exams."
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