America: My Time

Chapter 1182 Endless Regret

Chapter 11072 Endless Regret

"Gentlemen, you've all heard it. It's your stupidity that has caused things to deteriorate to this point. I've said before not to be too calculating; that will only shut out your friends. And you've all heard it too: Asian Energy will not compromise in any way. Don't even think about using the market as a threat; that will only cause Japan to lose more resources!" After John left, Akio Morita was surrounded by a number of people. These were all members of the Japanese conglomerate, and a few were Japanese government officials.

It has to be said that the Japanese reacted really quickly. Before John even visited Akio Morita's house, they had already taken the initiative and clearly heard John's conversation with Akio Morita!
"Mr. Morita, I'm sorry to have put you in this difficult position. It's no use saying all this now; everything has already happened. As for the Asian Energy matter, rest assured there will be absolutely no more problems. If we were to default first, the consequences would be severe, and we would pay a heavy price. No one can afford such a loss!"

"It's good that you all understand. John's attitude towards Japan has changed significantly. If you continue like this, when the last bit of goodwill is worn away, Japan will have another powerful opponent, another terrifying enemy. I believe no one wants to see that happen!"

"Yes, no one in Japan wants to see this happen. Anyone who dares to harm Japan's interests will pay the price for their foolishness, without exception. From now on, we will warn those guys to stop causing trouble for Japan and to stop making things difficult for us!"

At this moment, Akio Morita shook his head and said, "It's too late to do all this now. If you had done all this sooner, none of this would have happened, and we wouldn't be in this predicament. I hope someone will give Sony an explanation this time. Sony cannot suffer this loss; someone must pay the price."

“Mr. Morita, you’re going too far. If Nobuyuki Idei and Norio Ohga hadn’t had their own problems, this wouldn’t have happened. You can’t shift all the blame onto others after something goes wrong. We can’t accept your demands. Sony itself is the problem in this matter!”

"Is that so? Do you really think I don't know what's going on? Or do you think I'm powerless to retaliate? Sony's losses must be compensated by someone, otherwise this matter is not over. I can't accept that someone keeps scheming against this old man, completely robbing me of my last bit of dignity! Don't say it's what we should do, I don't owe any of you any favors!"

Faced with the domineering attitude of the old man Akio Morita, the Japanese guys fell silent. If they continued to refuse, the consequences would be severe. They weren't fools; they all understood that offending the old man Akio Morita would be a bad thing for them. If the old man used even a little trick, he could make them pay a heavy price.

"Okay, we will compensate Sony for its losses, but only for your share. You don't need to worry about the rest!"

"Alright, I agree. I didn't mean to make things difficult for you all; I just want the compensation I deserve. I advise you not to continue like this. If you really become enemies, I believe you will pay a much higher price. It's best to find a way to resolve this conflict, otherwise you will regret it later!"

After receiving the compensation he wanted, the old man Akio Morita kindly reminded the guys in front of him that, in his opinion, they were all too greedy and had too narrow a vision; otherwise, so many things wouldn't have happened.

Although Akio Morita has retired, he still understands many things about Japan, so he cannot back down this time. After all, he has suffered losses in his own interests and paid an even greater price in terms of personal relationships.

Easing the conflict with John is something many Japanese people want to do, and quite a few of these guys in front of us share this attitude. But things have come to this point, and it's not something you can just ease up on your own. The impact of Sony's betrayal is far from insignificant; otherwise, why would these guys agree to Akio Morita's demands?

"Mr. Morita, just tell us your plan. There's no need to toy with us like this!" "No, I think you've misunderstood. I don't have a good plan. If I did, I would have done it already. John isn't the same person he was back then. He was just a young man with the common flaws of youth—easy to get along with. But after more than a decade of experience, do you think he still has any problems? And do you think a honey trap would work on him? I know many of you think my scheme is brilliant, but I can only say you're overthinking it. It's just wasting John's goodwill towards us. If we continue like this, things will only get out of control!"

"So, Morita-san is against our arrangements and doesn't think holding another party will lead to anything?"

"Gentlemen, put yourselves in John's shoes. What would you do? Would you be swayed by a mere honey trap? Does John lack beautiful women? The most important thing is your arrogance and self-righteous decisions, which have caused us to miss many more opportunities and even affected John's view of Japan. Yasuko Sawaguchi, Chisato Moritaka, Miho Nakayama, Shinobu Nakayama, Norika Fujiwara—weren't all of this caused by you? You've interfered in these matters time and time again. What kind of impact do you think that will have?"

Upon hearing Akio Morita's words, everyone's expressions shifted repeatedly. Even the most foolish among them could understand how foolish and ridiculous their previous actions had been. Using those women to test John, they seemed to have achieved their desired result, but behind it all was the loss of John's goodwill towards Japan. No one wants to be betrayed, especially not repeatedly. John appeared unaffected and indifferent, but was he truly unconcerned?

A closer look reveals that this is simply impossible, but they didn't think that way back then. All they saw was that ridiculous scheme. Now that this hidden danger has surfaced, it has become extremely difficult for them to resolve it.

"Mr. Morita, since you knew there were risks involved, why didn't you stop us in the first place?" That's how people are. When they realize they've made a mistake, their first thought isn't to admit it, but to blame the other person. Now these guys think it's Akio Morita's fault for not stopping them in time.

"How could I stop you? What could I possibly use to stop you? Did I warn you all back then? Did you listen? You all treated my words as a joke. No matter how much I tried to persuade you, you insisted on doing things your own way. Now you're blaming me. Don't you all think that's going a bit too far?"

Akio Morita didn't want to take the blame, so he wanted to completely absolve himself of any responsibility. If he hadn't warned or alerted these guys beforehand, he wouldn't have felt comfortable saying anything. But he had, and none of them believed him. Now that problems had arisen, he wanted to absolve himself of all responsibility!
Regret is overwhelming for these Japanese guys now. But what's done is done, and there's no going back. Their mistakes were fundamental, making remediation virtually impossible. This time, they did something even more foolish: they used all their power to influence John, which was also a mistake. While they seem to have gotten everything they wanted and brought things to a close, the price they paid was enormous. They further diminished John's goodwill towards Japan and reduced the influence of those beautiful women.

This time, however, even the old man Akio Morita did the same thing. He knew there was something wrong with it, but he did it anyway, just so he wouldn't suffer any loss. When all of this was laid bare before everyone, their expressions turned grim. They were all filled with regret, yet they couldn't think of any solution.

"Right now, we can only take it one step at a time and try to avoid any more problems in the short term. I know that some people are trying to test us in the dark, and they want to play tricks and schemes. I can only say that they are courting disaster. John's dissatisfaction with Japan has reached its limit. If anyone challenges his bottom line again, it will be a disaster. I hope that no more problems will arise and that John will not have the opportunity to get angry. The price they pay is not something they can afford!"

At this moment, the old man Akio Morita gave another small reminder. If even he knew this, how could the people present have been completely unaware? That was impossible. They all knew, but they hadn't thought there was a problem before. Now, after hearing Akio Morita's explanation, they were all extremely worried. They absolutely could not allow such a thing to happen, and they could not allow those foolish guys to cause trouble again, making things spiral out of control and making them pay a heavy price. One accident after another had already consumed too much of their 'friendship'.

Although these guys didn't have direct contact with John, they overheard his conversation with Akio Morita, so they knew that John's change of attitude had affected their own interests and even many of their plans, which they couldn't accept.

(End of this chapter)