America: My Time

Chapter 1235 Parting ways
Chapter 1225 Parting Ways

John had a strange feeling about tonight's party. Apart from Akio Morita's appearance earlier, which he could accept, the rest of the guests were all 'friends'. If it were just Hideki Saijo and his group, it wouldn't be a problem, but the appearance of one 'familiar' 'friend' after another made John feel very strange. It was as if the Japanese had arranged it all.

However, upon closer inspection, it didn't seem that way. Instead, it appeared to be a hastily put-together plan, which John found laughable. Did these Japanese guys really think he was so easily fooled? Did they really think that finding these 'friends' would make him compromise and play the 'favor card'? They were being far too naive. Yet, it didn't seem entirely like that. These 'friends' weren't talking about any personal relationship with him; instead, they were discussing the development of the Japanese idol market, as if they were there to pave the way for those agencies. Even Hanami Kagami was doing the same.

For a moment, John was also confused by all of this, wondering what these Japanese guys were up to. Could it be that they had other schemes or some sinister plans? It's not surprising that John had such thoughts, since these Japanese guys have never had any bottom line.

Completely bewildered, John left the party. In truth, he had overthought things. The Japanese weren't playing the sympathy card; they were trying to mislead him. The smarter a person is, the more they'll consider multiple possibilities. This was exactly what the Japanese wanted. They wanted to use this tactic to keep John in Japan and buy themselves more time.

Don't be fooled by the seven-day deadline John gave; these guys know seven days is just the final deadline, and anyone who believes it would be a fool. As soon as John leaves Japan, they'll face invisible pressure, and the Koreans are certainly making preparations as well. In the context of the Asian financial crisis, even the most arrogant Koreans have been jolted awake. The rampant activities of Soros and international speculative capital have already roused them from their arrogance and made them realize their limitations.

Once the Koreans regain their senses, it means Japan will have another competitor, which is the last thing they want to see, and they need to be prepared. This explains the strange aspect of the party, leaving John completely bewildered. Although John didn't understand these guys' motives, he wouldn't dwell on it too much. Before absolute power, no matter how many schemes you have, they're all futile. Japan has now lost the ability to fight John.

After John left, the old guys from the Japanese didn't leave. Instead, they continued to discuss countermeasures, gain a thorough understanding of everything at the party, and analyze John's current situation to give them more opportunities.

“I don’t think we can wait any longer. I have a feeling that John’s attitude has changed. If we wait until the very end, things might get worse. We don’t have the ability to control the other side. The market is important, but we need cheap energy right now. I don’t think it will do us any good to keep dragging this out. Let’s cut to the chase. We’ll have a meeting tomorrow to discuss this and give John a response. Let’s not delay any longer. The longer we drag this out, the more dangerous the situation will become for us.”

“I also feel that we can’t drag this out any longer. While he’s in Japan, we can still do things to influence his decision, or at the very least, we can communicate with him. But once he leaves Japan, it’s out of our control, and we won’t even have the chance to communicate anymore. I no longer dare to place my hopes on the women around him, and we can’t do that either. The risk is too great, and if we fail, the consequences will be unimaginable.”

“I wanted to agree too, but as you all have noticed, at the last minute, some people had new ideas and wanted to back out, especially after they learned about John and Hanamiko’s conversation. It made these guys even more tempted, and they wanted to play the emotional card again. Even if we wanted to stop them, we couldn’t!”

"If all else fails, kick them out. If they want to stall or play the 'favor card,' let them. We'll unite and make a deal with John to get rid of their influence. Otherwise, it will be difficult to complete this in the shortest time. I don't trust those guys; they're all blinded by profit."

"I don't trust those guys either, or those bastards in the government. They've all started having more ideas. Don't they realize what time it is now? They're risking everyone's interests."

“Alright, if everyone agrees, then let’s leave those guys behind and act on our own, making a deal directly with John in the company’s name.” When their own interests were about to be affected, disagreements arose within Japan. Those who were unwilling to wait any longer made this decision to act alone, bypassing the official figures.

"It should have been like this a long time ago. We have a deep partnership with Asian Energy, so there's no need to pay attention to the official demands. We only need to protect our own interests. Without those guys, we wouldn't have wasted so much time and energy, and we could even have had more deals with Asian Energy." "While that's the situation, you all understand that the authorities aren't just thinking about energy companies like us. They want more, they want bigger profits, they want to use our interests to exchange for even more. The conglomerates are the same way, so we can't wait any longer."

Even within the same conglomerate, there are internal conflicts of interest, and government involvement would only make the situation more dangerous. While these individuals may appear to be acting in the public interest, behind them are numerous interest groups!
Knowing the current situation in Japan and understanding the danger of the situation, these guys didn't want to wait any longer. That's why they stayed to discuss countermeasures and didn't want their own interests to be harmed.

"Then let's act quickly and decisively to stabilize our interests. What others think or believe is none of our business. We can't afford to lose these interests because of them. Without them, our profits will be affected, and our overall interests will suffer. Everyone looks out for themselves! We have no other choice but to act this way. If they want to blame someone, they should blame themselves for being too greedy!"

Soon, these energy companies in Japan reached an agreement and began to take action, making their employees work overtime like crazy. They needed to know how much natural gas consumption they could afford. They wanted to negotiate with John and Asian Energy on their own, with only their own interests in mind.

Soon those retail companies started asking their subordinates to provide them with data quickly. It has to be said that they were very fast. They quickly obtained data from the previous few years, including growth rates, as well as predictions for the next few years. This gave those bigwigs the data they wanted, which they then compiled together.

"A man can't get rich without windfall gains, and a horse can't get fat without wild grass. Although we need to maintain stable relations with the Middle Eastern tycoons, we only need to keep our supply to them. We can leave everything else to Asian Energy. I believe our sincerity will satisfy Mr. John and Asian Energy. Regardless of whether other American financial groups are behind Asian Energy, we can't afford to offend them. Besides, we're not that foolish to choose expensive natural gas over cheap natural gas!"

“That’s right. People die for money, birds die for food. At this time, we can’t let our own interests be harmed because of their scheming and plans. They only think about their own interests and have never thought about us. Now we have to be selfish and think about our own interests. Now that we have the data, let’s not go back today. Let’s stay here together and go see Mr. John together tomorrow, how about that?”

"Kato, what do you mean by this? Are you implying that we will betray you and sacrifice our own interests? You're judging others by your own standards! You've gone too far!" At this moment, someone couldn't accept such 'humiliation,' feeling that it was a slap in their face, so they spoke up.

"Hehe, I didn't say that. You just said it yourself. And what do you think is wrong with what I'm doing? We need to be more cautious, especially now. I don't want everything to be known by those guys before we even take action tomorrow, ruining our plans. If everyone has nothing to hide, then stay and keep an eye on each other. That way, we can eliminate this last hidden danger. What do you all think?"

Ruthless. I have to say, this guy's move was truly ruthless. Not only did he keep them here, but he also made them monitor each other, completely eliminating the possibility of information leaking before their operation, ensuring their trip tomorrow would be completely safe. If it weren't so late, this guy would probably have taken everyone to see John directly and finalized the matter.

At this point, faced with the prospect of profit, these guys all nodded in agreement. Even if you didn't want to, you had no choice but to agree, as it concerned everyone's interests. Otherwise, if something went wrong, you would become the target of everyone's criticism, be ostracized, and suffer suppression. This was not the outcome they wanted to see. After all, they also had their pride. The reputation of a traitor was not good. Moreover, in this industry, if you really betrayed everyone, it wouldn't be just ordinary trouble; you might even be directly ostracized and forced out of the game!

(End of this chapter)