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Flames rise up.

The flames, the embers rise up.

As if someone is fanning them, artificial wind adds to the blaze, the flames lay low, spreading wide and fragmenting, scattering. The scattered flames will become embers, riding the wind, flying here and there to ignite another fire.

* * *

Yasaki Tokitaka was moving energetically.

“We had quite a few stories at the villa back then. Listening to your tales, I felt that this country, Korea, is truly arrogant. Don’t you think?”

“Yes, of course. They’re ungrateful bastards.”

“Uncivilized and corrupt, just scraping by in poverty their whole lives, and when we helped them step into civilization, they dare to defy us. They forget the grace of modernization and bare their teeth at Japan. Tsk. Even a dumb dog recognizes the person who feeds it and wags its tail. But that country can’t recognize its benefactor and just barks loudly. They’re truly vile.”

“And isn’t it true they are receiving divine punishment now? Not from the sky they believe in, but from our Japan’s yokai and the eight million gods!”

Since that meeting at the villa, he had been meeting even more people.

Fortunately, many shared the same sentiment as Yasaki Tokitaka. Or rather, one could say there were an abundance of people who aligned with the thoughts he disguised.

Koreans, those ungrateful beings.

They need to be shown the bitter taste.

The higher-ups were passionately speaking, their mouths running dry with fervor, but it was none of Tokitaka’s concern.

It wasn’t that he held a favorable opinion toward Korea.

He simply had no interest at all and didn’t want to have any.

“Hahaha. Right, you’ve got that down perfectly. You have a truly accurate judgment about Korea.”

“Haha, of course.”

“Speaking of which, haven’t the Koreans been pushing various projects as national policy like K-pop or something? That cheap thing called Hallyu must have temporarily contaminated the industry, so it’s no coincidence you developed such a proper thought. Hahaha.”

The man in front of Tokitaka looked down at him as if it made sense.

His gaze was authoritative as if looking down from above, assured that what he said was the truth.

Even though that wasn’t the case.

‘Not my concern, anyway.’

Hallyu?

Sure.

It had some influence in Japan.

But did it negatively affect Tokitaka? No, it didn’t.

In fact, he had made quite a bit of money off it several times.

Moreover, he didn’t care about whether someone was Korean or European.

What mattered was profit.

Profit.

Wasn’t it essential that it brought him honor, money, and pleasure?

Birth?

What’s the big deal?

‘A foreigner is a foreigner, and a local is just another local.’

In the past, Tokitaka had been bullied.

The reason was rather trivial.

During his school days, he had participated in a retreat where they took turns telling a hundred scary stories. He shared a terrifying tale his grandmother had experienced in Okinawa. But from then on, strange rumors began to spread in school.

The rumor claimed that Tokitaka had Okinawan native blood mixed in his lineage.

It was a ridiculous rumor.

In reality, Tokitaka didn’t care much about it.

The rumor wasn’t true, and even if it was, what use was it to be associated with Okinawan natives?

Aren’t we all Japanese in the end?

Thus, Tokitaka brushed off the rumor indifferently.

And that became his mistake.

Had he matured even slightly, it might have been different, but Tokitaka at that time was a child carrying a randoseru (school backpack), and his peers were cruelly playing with a bug’s legs or wings without hesitation.

Along with the Japanese propensity to break anything that stood out.

Thus, Tokitaka became the target of bullying.

He was ostracized for not being pure Japanese.

Fortunately, the bullying didn’t last long.

Instead of succumbing to the tormentors surrounding him, Tokitaka spread a ridiculous rumor about the ringleader. The rumor claimed that the ringleader’s family was Burakumin.

And that rumor had a substantial impact.

Unlike the trivial gossip about Okinawan natives, the rumor about Burakumin could reach the adults.

Whereas Tokitaka disregarded it as mere child’s play, once the rumor about the ringleader being Burakumin spread, the parents of the kids sternly warned their children not to play with him, and the parent-teacher association even pressured the school by saying, “We’re worried our child is attending the same school as that lowly kid.”

Children, especially those not yet ten years old, are heavily influenced by their parents.

Naturally, the child, having learned his parents’ attitude, began to avoid the ringleader as if he were a filthy trash, ultimately rejecting even the thought of being around him like touching actual garbage.

Thus, Tokitaka succeeded wonderfully in his revenge at a young age.

He also managed to escape the mire of bullying wisely.

That memory still remained vividly imprinted in his mind.

Because of that, he became someone who didn’t view people through the lens of birth or nationality.

More accurately, he didn’t impose disadvantages based on birth.

He developed a habit of viewing people objectively, a habit that led him to become a competent producer.

But one important thing remained.

Though he didn’t impose disadvantages based on birth or nationality, he didn’t provide advantages either.

He prioritized his own profit above all, able to forsake conscience and righteousness in the name of that profit.

Thus, he could outwardly express thoughts that completely contradicted his inner agreement with them.

“It’s really annoying just to look at it. Just because they get a little recognition, the way they giggle around with shows and dramas is like a cat rummaging through a trash can. This can’t go on any longer. What the boss says and what others say. I plan to roll up my sleeves and take action.”

“Hmm, what do you mean?”

“For now, I’ll talk to the PDs I know and instruct them to avoid using pro-Korean or Korean people or Zainichi (Koreans in Japan). Instead, wouldn’t it be better to slot in our company’s celebrities?”

“Haha, right. Who would dislike that? Hahahaha! I can’t just sit by now that you, Yasaki, are stepping forward. For starters, all our company’s advertisements will be handled by your company. And I have friends too; I’ll persuade them to feature ads from your company.”

The man listening to Tokitaka’s words beamed with delight.

Truly, he seemed genuinely happy.

‘Right. What matters is my profit.’

Apathy was merely a means to use.

It couldn’t be added to his scales.

Thus, Tokitaka willingly decided to bring disadvantage to Korea based on the man’s intentions.

Reason?

Because it would bring him profit!

‘Those folks I met at the villa should be pleased too.’

Tokitaka smiled, remembering the faces of the people he met at the villa.

But suddenly, a thought crossed his mind.

‘But…. what did I do at the villa?’

Was it because he drank too much there?

His mind was hazy about what he did there.

Like it was surrounded by fog.

But Tokitaka brushed off the sense of incongruity in his mind.

He had been drinking, so it was understandable, right?

After all, he had been living with alcohol the whole time at the villa, so it wouldn’t be strange to feel a bit hazy.

That’s right.

It must have been just that.

After all, he had been drinking, how could he possibly be clear-headed?

What mattered was that he met many people at the villa.

The fact that he talked to those people.

He could remember that although the conversations were fragmented and cut off, they had indeed spoken ill of Korea together.

He should remember how they enjoyed the banquet in a cheerful atmosphere and relaxed while building connections inside the villa.

How pleasant the atmosphere was, and how beneficial it had been, he must remember clearly.

Right.

‘It was indeed nice.’

The villa was sophisticated, the food was tasty, and the people were friendly.

‘We didn’t even step outside during the gathering.’

Though there were infamous rumors about the House of Death or whatever, perhaps due to the next Shinto priest directly engaging, there was no mood of eeriness at all. Rather, it felt warm, cozy, and relaxing as if it eased people’s tensions.

It was a very satisfactory place.

So much so that he didn’t take a single step outside from that mansion, nor did he even breathe the air on the terrace.

He was so satisfied that he didn’t even feel the need to refresh himself with some outside air.

Indeed.

It was definitely like that.

* * *

Korea.

Someone from a media outlet was complaining.

“Tsk, opportunities aren’t coming.”

 

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