National Tide 1980.

"I know, I know EIE has had a difficult day. But I still want to say that EIE is a great company, and its current stock price is far from reflecting its true value. EIE is currently operating normally, its golf business is progressing well, and there is no negative information to disclose. Someone is deliberately causing trouble, and those who sold are fools..."

February 23, 1990, was a Waterloo moment in Harunori Takahashi's life.

In less than a single trading day, EIE's stock price plummeted to 17,000 yen, wiping out another 140 billion yen from its already less than 900 billion yen market capitalization.

Ultimately, EIE International had to urgently apply for a temporary suspension of trading to prevent its stock price from collapsing further.

However, when faced with reporters from various media outlets who had gathered at the company's entrance after hearing the inquiries, Harunori Takahashi still maintained a stubborn and defiant attitude.

After making a brief and restrained statement at the entrance, he waved his hand expressionlessly, refusing further questions from the chattering reporters, and quickly disappeared from the camera's view.

"President Takahashi, but..."

"What do you mean by 'someone is causing trouble'...?"

"Has EIE International been targeted by international capital...?"

"You really have nothing to say about the short-selling report on Lehman Brothers...?"

Takahashi Harunori showed no hesitation and left with unusual decisiveness. Undoubtedly, in most people's eyes, he was fleeing in a panic.

But in reality, besides feeling guilty and embarrassed, there was an even more important reason why he was in such a hurry to leave: he needed to face the board's accountability inquiry immediately.

To be honest, today's emergency halt was not his idea at all, but rather instructed by several major shareholders of the company, with the Long-Term Credit Bank of Japan being the leader.

It's important to understand that what banks fear most is encountering non-performing assets.

Just like EIE Group now, it was maliciously shorted, its stock market value plummeted, and its debt ratio was higher than its net assets. The key point is that most of the money came from "Changyin".

If Takahashi Harunori really causes his account to go bankrupt and he never recovers, then he will face bankruptcy liquidation.

If that's the case, it's hard to say how much of the initial investment can be recovered.

If things go wrong, all the money lent to Harunori Takahashi could be lost, and they themselves would have to bear the huge losses caused by the decline in their EIE stock holdings.

This situation could result in losses of trillions of yen.

Even large, well-established banks can't withstand such exploitation.

So what to do?

We need to find a way to stabilize the situation as soon as possible, and then deal with this bad asset.

"Nagagi" was originally a staunch supporter of Harunori Takahashi, but at this point he no longer believed Takahashi's hype at all.

Changyin could no longer tolerate his perverse actions and finally stood on the opposite side of Takahashi Harunori, actively taking steps to save himself.

Putting everything else aside, let's suspend trading first.

It's almost the weekend, so we have at least two days to figure something out.

Changyin's strategy is clear: only by stabilizing the stock price can it find an opportunity to cut its losses and survive.

Of course, they also know that temporary suspension of trading has side effects and can lead to more unpredictable situations.

But they are different from Harunori Takahashi, who already knows he has lost all his chips.

Takahashi had lost the will to fight anymore, while they still wanted to try their best.

Even if we only recover three or four tenths of the cost, and can sell EIE at a discount, it's still better than losing everything.

Therefore, Changyin, as a major shareholder, contacted several other important shareholders and, in the name of the board of directors, bypassed Harunori Takahashi to submit a temporary suspension application to the Tokyo Stock Exchange. After obtaining approval, the next thing they did was to quickly dispatch representatives to inform the EIE board of directors of the temporary decision and take over the power of the EIE Group.

In fact, right after Harunori Takahashi finished dealing with the reporters, a line of luxury cars slowly drove into the underground parking lot of the Lingkong Building and parked in a row.

Soon after, representatives of the various shareholders, led by Changyin, arrived in the elevator with a large entourage. They entered the company without any ceremony and barged into the president's office.

While Takahashi Harunori, who was waiting in the president's office, was somewhat prepared for this situation, he still couldn't help but express his objections when he discovered that some of the people were not even members of the board of directors and were all unfamiliar faces.

Unexpectedly, the representative of Changyin rudely interrupted him, "Takahashi, I am the managing director of Changyin. Wake up. How could those who support you possibly show up? It's all because of you that they're also unlucky and are being punished. Now listen, we, on behalf of the board of directors, are giving you two choices."

His attitude was anything but friendly. In front of the representatives of the affiliated companies and shareholders, he stated directly, "First, as your largest creditor and EIE's second-largest shareholder, on behalf of the other directors, I am removing you from your position as president. From now on, you are no longer allowed to interfere in company affairs, nor can you issue statements in the company's name. We will handle the rest. However, to salvage the situation, we may need your cooperation on some matters. You need to be available at any time, understand?"

Takahashi Harunori was furious, his face contorted with rage as he retorted, "Don't forget that I created EIE's glory! You want to take over my company and then treat me like a slave? You're dreaming! Let me tell you, without me, EIE would only collapse even faster, you idiot!"

Clearly, although Harunori Takahashi had lost the bet, within EIE he still couldn't let go of his status as president and maintained the arrogance of being the number one.

Seeing his lack of tact, the representative of Changyin did not tolerate it.

After all, times have changed, and the once-distinguished clients have become the losers. Takahashi no longer deserves any of their courtesy.

"If that's your attitude, then we'll have no choice but to uncover the truth. I'm now announcing that we're launching an internal investigation into your misconduct and financial issues. If you're not satisfied, I'll send you to prison and make you spend the rest of your life behind bars. You know I can do it, so be smart, I advise you not to make that choice."

The representative from Changyin responded coldly. There was no doubt that this threat was achievable; the representative from Changyin was indeed capable of carrying it out.

After all, there are many irregular insider transactions related to financing and securities investment, and in the past, these were privately agreed upon by Changyin and Takahashi.

They were once accomplices in a scheme to profit together.

But now it is clear that the Changyin representative who liaised with Takahashi has been taken down and is now a thing of the past, so he will be held responsible for all the insider trading in the past.

If necessary, this person could take full responsibility and die with Takahashi; Nagagami wouldn't feel sorry for him, as long as it was truly worthwhile.

"You really want to completely destroy me. And then what? Doesn't that mean you've indirectly confirmed Lehman Brothers' short-selling report, and even made those false rumors outside more credible? Do you want to see the stock price plummet again at the opening?"

"In short, you can think about it yourself. I'll give you another 24 hours. You need to give me an answer by tomorrow."

The representative from Changyin was too lazy to say anything more to him, and impatiently waved his hand, "As for now, you can leave. This office is ours now, and we're about to have a meeting, so it's not convenient for you to be there."

"you!"

Of all the humiliations he had suffered in his life, this was undoubtedly the worst for Harunori Takahashi.

Even after being expelled from Keio High School, he had to bow in embarrassment and apologize in front of the entire school before leaving all alone.

Even when his abilities were publicly questioned at the shareholders' meeting, and it was said that he became president of the EIE Group only because of the financial support of his wife's family, he was not as ashamed and indignant as he was.

He couldn't accept it at all, but at this moment he couldn't think of any way to retaliate. Standing in the middle of the room, he felt trapped, extremely ashamed and indignant, and wished he could just smash his head against a wall and die.

This feeling is like becoming the king in "The Emperor's New Clothes," who is tricked and forced to expose his nakedness in public, only to be exposed by a child's innocent remark in front of everyone. There is nowhere to hide or hide; it's all humiliating no matter what.

But then again, the true nature of financial capital is indeed this ruthless.

Besides, isn't he an innocent person?
Based on his actions, shouldn't he have deserved this fate?
EIE International's market value has evaporated by 2.3 trillion yen from its stock market peak.

That's right, although this trend is driven by the general trend, it cannot all be blamed on Harunori Takahashi.

But the problem is that his decision to push up the stock price at its peak was already a mistake.

At a time when he should be focusing on internal operations, trying to eliminate the hype surrounding acquisitions, and properly dealing with the aftermath of the economic bubble, he has not changed his gambling nature and has gone against the grain, placing all his hopes on the game of the financial market.

The EIE Group became the target of his high-stakes gamble, which caused further irreparable and enormous losses to the already severely bleeding group.

The board members present today represent the companies he has implicated. The fact that they haven't complained, scolded, or even beaten him in public is already a sign of politeness. After all, they haven't lost their own money, and they can still maintain their upper-class elite demeanor.

Otherwise, if it were one of those securities gamblers who lost everything because of him, or an individual investor who suffered heavy losses because of buying EIE International, it would be normal to kill him with a knife.

"Aren't you leaving yet? Do you mean I need to send someone to take you away?"

The representative of Changyin, sitting at the top of the long conference table, made no attempt to conceal his threat, which completely broke off all pretense of civility.

"you!"

Takahashi Harunori felt his blood rush to his head, and he really wanted to pounce on her right then and there.

However, he is also a person who cares a lot about his image. As the president of EIE and a former top tycoon, it would be too embarrassing for him to be forcibly thrown out by his own company's security personnel. He would be ridiculed by the entire financial industry.

He had no choice but to swallow his anger for the time being. "Fine, we'll see!"

Then, like a defeated dog, he sullenly ordered his secretary, "Go and fetch Iwazawa for me..."

He still held a sliver of hope and wanted to discuss countermeasures with Iwasawa again to see if there was any chance to turn things around, or at least salvage some of his personal assets.

"Ok?"

However, what he saw was the female secretary who used to obey him obediently, now standing there with a contemptuous expression, motionless. "Excuse my bluntness, but you are no longer the president..."

Then, turning to look at the representative of Changyin, he asked, "Mr. Managing Director, do I still need to follow the instructions of the former president?"

"Of course not, who are you?"

"I'm Takahashi's secretary. If you need any coffee, I'll make it for you right now. Feel free to ask me anything about this office..."

"Great, go ahead and do your job well. Your position will not be changed for the time being."

"Yes, thank you." The female secretary bowed deeply, then pushed open the door and left without even glancing at Takahashi.

Takahashi was so angry that he almost vomited blood when he was ignored by the woman he had hired and had slept with countless times.

"Bitch!"

He instantly realized he had become a fallen phoenix, facing betrayal and abandonment from everyone. (End of Chapter)