Chapter 399: Pack Up and Leave
HAL was established in February 1980 and was acquired by Shirakawa Kaede in May.
This means that Tanimura and Shirakawa Kaede have known each other for three years, and he has served the latter at HAL for three years.
Think about it, Shirakawa Electric was just an inconspicuous small company, and HAL was housed in a small room in an apartment in Shinjuku.
At that time, Shirakawa Kaede was only slightly wealthy, and Tanimura was so poor that he could barely pay the rent.
Now, the market value of Shirakawa Electric has exceeded 3.5 trillion yen, infinitely close to the top ten.
HAL also became Neon's leading software company, and its office space was moved to an entire office building in Akihabara.
The company has grown rapidly, and of course the people have changed a lot as well.
Hearing Shirakawa Kaede's question, Tanimura moved his lips, "Shirakawa-san, I'm sorry..."
Bai Chuanfeng shook his head, looking disappointed, "Don't you have anything to explain?"
"I...I...I can't do anything, Shirakawa-san~" Tanimura opened his mouth and suddenly burst into tears.
"Really, please believe me, Baichuan-san, just... just this once." He raised his index finger and swore, "I will never dare to do it again. Please forgive me once."
"Why?" Bai Chuanfeng still looked at him expressionlessly.
"Because... because..." Tanimura's eyes were filled with tears and snot, and he looked extremely regretful, "Because I lost everything, wuwuwu~"
At the end, Tanimura actually fell to his knees and started crying loudly.
"Loss?" Bai Chuanfeng raised his eyebrows.
"The stock market - I lost money - wuwuwu ~" As if he was recalling the sad past, Tanimura cried and hung his head to the ground in regret.
A hint of realization flashed across Baichuan Feng's eyes, and he probably guessed what had happened.
"How much did we lose?" We didn't know how much of the 200 million yen development budget was left.
"Everything... wow~" Tanimura cried even more sadly.
"All?!" Baichuan Feng stood up in disbelief.
Damn it, you are such a poor kid selling your father’s land without any regret.
All in all, you've wasted my 300 million yen.
It's only 1983 now. Do you know what 300 million yen means?
300 million yen can be exchanged for 1.2 million US dollars, which can buy a 30-mile mid-range Ferrari or a 480-square-meter ultra-luxury villa in the center of New York.
Now all this money has been invested in the stock market without even a splash.
Baichuan Feng was so angry, isn't my money money?
"All my savings, all my savings for the past three years, are gone~"
Just when Baichuan Feng couldn't help but lose his temper, Tanimura knelt on the ground and cried out in regret.
Hmm? Did he lose all his personal savings?
"How much research and development funds are left for the handheld game console?" Baichuan Feng asked calmly.
"There's still... there's still about a little over 100 million." The crying Tanimura answered honestly.
He didn't dare to hide this. If he didn't tell the truth and was found out later, he would be punished by operating the sewing machine.
Moreover, the amount of embezzlement also affects the sentencing.
Obviously, 300 million and more than 100 million are completely different concepts. He also hopes that this can slightly calm down Baichuan Feng's anger.
Hearing that there was still more than 100 million left, Baichuan Feng finally felt much better.
However, this incident still made him furious.
How audacious!
The head of a company colluded with the finance minister and quietly moved away a huge sum of 300 million yen from the company's account.
If I hadn't had a sudden impulse and asked someone to check the accounts in advance, I don't know what kind of holes would be waiting for me later.
"Tanimura, don't say I'm ruthless. You know what to do when something like this happens, right?"
Although he is considered a veteran figure, Baichuan Feng will never let him off easily.
Bowing and apologizing don't work in front of him.
"Shirakawa-san~Shirakawa-san~" Tanimura looked like scholar Yamamoto and knelt down to his feet.
"Please give me another chance, I will never dare to do it again.
You resign from my position as president, no, I will resign! I will give the position of president to Mr. Iwata.
Yes, Iwata-san! Shirakawa-san, you think highly of him, don’t you? "
Tanimura grabbed at a life-saving straw, banging his head loudly while lying on the ground and trying his best to repent.
He knew that with Baichuan Feng's current status, it would be too easy to deal with him.
Now he only hoped that Baichuan Feng would spare him this time for the sake of their past.
After all, even if he has no credit, he has worked hard.
Tanimura also contributed to the creation of HAL's handheld game console.
So will Baichuan Feng forgive him?
"Tanimura" Shirakawa Feng sighed softly, "Do you know what kind of people I hate the most?"
Tanimura raised his eyes slightly, and when he saw Shirakawa Kaede's expressionless face, his heart skipped a beat.
“I hate people who deceive their superiors, especially those who deceive their superiors and subordinates about R&D funding.
R&D is the core investment to ensure the company's competitiveness. If we touch it, we are touching the foundation of HAL."
"Shirakawa-san~" Tanimura raised his head and wanted to beg for mercy, but after seeing Shirakawa Kaede's cold expression, he suddenly became speechless.
"I'll give you two choices." Baichuan Feng's expression in the conference room was gloomy.
“First, HAL reported the case to the Metropolitan Police Department, and a third-party accounting firm intervened to thoroughly check all accounts.
All results will be handled in accordance with procedures and in an impartial manner.”
"Shirakawa-san~!" Tanimura's face changed drastically.
“Second, sign this agreement, and from now on you will have no further connection with HAL.
As for the position of president, if you take the initiative to resign, HAL will no longer pursue the issue of your misappropriation of public funds."
As he spoke, Shirakawa Feng tilted his head to his side, and Oda immediately handed over a prepared document.
Tanimura got the document and just took a look at it, his face changed drastically as well.
"Choose one of the two, it's up to you.
Let me remind you, if it weren’t for what happened in the past, you wouldn’t even have the chance to choose.”
There is no chance to choose... As soon as this thought flashed through Tanimura's mind, he couldn't help but shiver.
If it's a matter of official business, then the most likely choice is option 1.
According to Neon's criminal law, the amount of money Tanimura mobilized was enough to be sentenced to more than fifteen years in prison, and he would also have to pay a large fine.
But option two..., Tanimura looked at the documents in his hand.
Voluntarily relinquished its holdings in HAL, totaling 1.8%.
As compensation, HAL will pay him a transfer fee of 200,000 yen.
To put it simply, it means using 200,000 yen to purchase the original 1.8% shares held by Tanimura.
200,000 yen... Tanimura felt angry and helpless.
According to HAL's current profitability, not to mention 200,000 yen, even 1 billion or 2 billion yen would be considered an underestimation.
Last year alone, with just that little bit of shares, Tanimura received dividends of nearly 100 million yen.
It is conceivable how upset he felt when he saw the words 200,000 yen.
This is a mountain of gold. If you sign it yourself, it means you will have nothing in the future.
"Shirakawa-san," Tanimura continued to pray and looked at Shirakawa Kaede who was sitting there motionless.
However, he was destined to be disappointed, and Baichuan Feng would never forgive such behavior.
Why didn't you think about today when you were squandering public funds?
Having given up hope, Tanimura lowered his head and began to struggle with his conscience.
On one hand, there was more than a decade in prison, and on the other hand, there was a loss of billions of yen.
After thinking it over again and again, Tanimura picked up the pen and signed the document with gritted teeth.
Money is good, but you have to have the life to spend it.
After more than ten years in prison, who knows if he can live to see that day.
Besides, after seeing the colorful world outside, who would be willing to go in and operate a sewing machine?
Tanimura thought he had some skills in computers, so at worst he could start his own company.
If it develops well in the future, it may not be worse than HAL.
After realizing this, Tanimura seemed to suddenly relax a lot.
After signing the contract quickly, Tanimura stood up, bowed to Shirakawa Kaede, and then left the meeting room without looking back.
Looking at his departing back, an inexplicable light flashed in Baichuan Feng's eyes.
"Go and notify the others to come in for the meeting."
"Hayi" Oda bowed and left.
…
Half an hour later, Conference Room 1 was full of people again.
The only difference from just now was that this time there were two people missing, Tanimura and Yamamoto.
After what happened before, everyone was unsure of Baichuan Feng's thoughts, and no one wanted to offend him.
So even though there were more than a dozen people, the conference room was so quiet that it seemed as if no one was there.
However, Baichuan Feng has recovered as before, and his face is still as gentle as before.
"Okay, let's discuss the development of the next generation of handheld game consoles."
As he spoke, Baichuan Feng asked someone to put the brick up again. Someone had to clean up the mess.
“Ladies and gentlemen, the success of FES has proven the feasibility of gaming platformization.
We still have the same idea for the new generation of handheld game consoles.
It is still a brand new gaming platform. Like FES, Game Boy ODS (odyssey) supports game cartridge replacement.
In the future, a dedicated game group will also need to be established within HAL to develop related games for ODS.”
This was the development goal that Shirakawa Kaede set for , and it remains unchanged now.
"But now," Shirakawa Feng picked up the brick and shook it, "we have encountered some problems in our development.
It is definitely not possible to continue the previous route, this guy is too big.
I hold it like a dumbbell at the gym. I doubt if kids can lift it.”
This half-joking remark made everyone laugh.
Seeing that the atmosphere had eased, Baichuan Feng also smiled.
"So now, who is qualified for such a job?"
Everyone looked at each other, and finally, everyone focused their attention on a slightly plump figure.
"Very good," Shirakawa Kaede nodded with satisfaction, "Iwata-kun."
"Hai" Iwata straightened his back and chest subconsciously.
"Okay, don't be nervous." Baichuan Feng waved his hand, "If I leave it to you, how long will it take to see the prototype?"
After saying that, he glanced at the huge handheld game console on the table and shook his head, "As for the progress, just treat it as a brand new project and start from scratch."
If asked who he would trust most with the development of a handheld game console, Shirakawa Kaede's first choice would be Satoru Iwata.
Putting aside his programming skills, his experience in developing the SIC8089A chip alone made him the first choice for the handheld game console project leader.
FES and the future Game Boy ODS use the same chip. With the foundation of the former, the development of the latter will be easier.
After hearing Shirakawa Kaede's question, Iwata also began to consider how long it would take if it was a handheld game console.
