Tokyo: They say it's just dating, but they're serious about it.

"You haven't seen the movie, have you?"

Tanaka Yutaka's quirky laughter was full of the teasing tone of an "adult" towards a "child".

Katsuhiko was taken aback and asked, "What do you mean?"

"Let's rent a few movies later! If we find one where a woman's face isn't shown on screen, I'll call you dad."

"Aren't there many cosplayers and role-players?"

"Do you only watch the beginning of a movie?" Tanaka Yutaka chuckled again, then shouted into the microphone, "You guys, stop studying and come over here! Our president, Takenaka Dai, has some questions for you."

Katsuhiko sensed a “perverted sense of superiority” in Tanaka Yutaka’s tone, but he didn’t feel uncomfortable at all, since he genuinely wanted to make the company bigger and stronger for the sake of its development.

Then I'll humbly ask for your advice! No one is omniscient or omnipotent. After all, someone who has never experienced heartbreak can't possibly know the pain of it...

Katsuhiko couldn't help but recall the movies he had watched before, but unfortunately, they were from a long time ago and involved time travel, so he had almost no recollection of them...

"President Takenaka, please feel free to ask any questions. I guarantee to answer truthfully." The underling, whose name I didn't know, spoke with great seriousness.

Katsuhiko asked, "If all the actresses in the film were wearing very beautiful masks, would you like watching it?"

"I don't watch movies. When I choose movies, I look at the appearance first. If someone looks similar to my first love, I'll rent it."

The young man answered readily, then asked into the phone, "Yasuto-kun, what about you?"

"Wearing a mask is great! It's just that you can't wear it all the time, otherwise it's not enjoyable. Also, if the actor is ugly when they take off the mask, I'll curse the production company, blacklist them, and never rent from them again..."

The other younger brothers gave similar answers.

Katsuhiko asked in surprise, "Don't you guys care about body shape?"

Many people say things like "They all look the same with the lights off" and "Looks don't matter, it's all about the figure." Do young people only care about appearance?

The underlings were also surprised and asked, "President Takenaka, you haven't seen any adult films, have you? What we want is that feeling of nostalgia; looks are much more important than physique!"

Then, one of the underlings gave an example: "Do you know how our boss Tanaka watches porn? He always holds up a big picture of Shizuka Kudo and covers up the actress's face."

"asshole!!!"

Tanaka Yutaka suddenly roared, followed by a loud slap. Then, Tanaka Yutaka's voice, unable to suppress his shame, came through the receiver: "President Takenaka, if there's nothing else, I'll hang up."

It turns out that the predecessor of "AI face swapping" was "manual face swapping"... Sheng Yan had indeed never experienced it before, since he didn't need to use the face swapping mode, and he had encountered a blind spot in his knowledge.

The needs of the masses must be met, so let's improve our makeup skills.

With the "Focus on Potions" skill, this top student can transform the faces of the actresses in the company into those of popular celebrities... a manual face swap.

After hanging up the phone, Katsuhiko pocketed a few coins, said goodbye to Eiyo and Kotoha who were eavesdropping, grabbed his library card, and headed straight for Waseda University Library.

Photography, makeup, comic book techniques, songwriting... all require learning.

Chapter 40 Your father broke someone's leg

On May 4th and 5th, Katsuhiko was so engrossed in studying that he couldn't tear himself away, even renting and watching videotapes for learning purposes...

Sayuri's "used goods store" is thriving, and she has already saved more than two million yen. She occasionally takes out her bank card to touch it and then "hehe" to Katsuhiko to show off.

Mikoto's "convenience store" hasn't made much progress yet, but she's not in a hurry, since she hasn't reached the point where she can't afford to eat.

And right now, Katsuhiko is busy running that lewd videotape company.

After finishing his company, he still had to set up Qin Ye and Ying Dai's food processing plant.

As for myself, I need to take it slow and be understanding of my husband...

Mikoto's mortgage application materials have been submitted to the bank. The property includes the residential property and the convenience store, plus a business license jointly registered with Sayuri. If all goes well, the total loan amount will be 200 million yen.

As for whether she will go bankrupt or whether she can repay the debt in the end, Mikoto is not considering it.

Shengyan said it was fine, since they were legally married anyway. They were of one mind and could overcome anything, and they would be happy even if they were starving together.

"What an annoying love-struck fool," Mikoto slapped her forehead countless times. "I must have caught it from Sayuri-chan..."

She also occasionally envied Yingdai's independence and ambition.

Then, when Eiya asked her again whether she was "willing or not," she took out a videotape of a "parent-child activity" that she and Katsuhiko had participated in before, and had Eiya watch it with Chinatsu.

Eiyo watched intently, even biting off her fingernail. Even Kotoyo showed a look that seemed to be one of envy, though it was more of a hint of it.

When Mikoto was observing her, she pretended to be very busy.

Neither Qinye nor Yingdai had ever participated in such a happy event.

The liquidation of their factory assets has also been completed.

With total assets of 85 million yen, and total debts of 400 million yen in gambling debts owed by Kenta’s father and 100 million yen in bank debts, he is still insolvent!

However, with the convenience stores and secondhand stores acting as collateral, the banks won't be pressing them so hard.

As for the debt collectors from the Guanzhou Federation, they're nothing but trash.

The debtor is Kenta's father, and that old man is still alive, so he can't possibly pin it on Kenta. Besides, Kotoha, who is now a widow, and his widowed sister Eiyo have absolutely no connection to it.

Of course, Sato Hiroji was naturally unwilling to accept that Katsuhiko had thwarted Sato Hiroji's plan to acquire assets twice.

For the past two days, he has been investigating Sheng Yan's identity.

I thought he was a powerful figure, after all, he fought a dozen people at once that night without even breaking a sweat, and his attacks were so ruthless.

But after checking the information, he was stunned for a long time: a country bumpkin from Hokkaido, whose ancestors were fishermen, and who was the only college student in the village, and from a third-rate university at that, who couldn't find a job at all, working part-time at a convenience store, with no connections whatsoever...

"You little punk, what do you have to fight me with!"

After investigating the matter, Hiroji Sato was extremely angry.

Not only because Katsuhiko ruined his plans, but more importantly, he couldn't find his ex-wife.

He believed that deep down he still loved Ei-dai; otherwise, he wouldn't have gone to such lengths to embezzle bank assets to support his family, and even went so far as to murder Mikoto's ex-husband.

Unfortunately, when he was remotely controlling the assassin over the phone, Yingdai overheard him.

Then she used this to blackmail me into getting a divorce... Fine, let's get a divorce. Anyway, her father's factory is short of money, she can't run away, and one day she'll beg to get back together.

Now, Hiroji Sato has countless reasons to suspect that Katsuhiko has hidden away Eiyo, whom he deeply loves.

I wonder if Hideyo informed Katsuhiko about her crimes? Probably not, because Hideyo is a very trustworthy person.

Sato Hiroji wanted to ask the Kanjuku Federation for help in finding the person again, but because the kidnapping failed that night, it alerted the police station. Then the Kanjuku Federation demanded a large sum of money from him and also asked him to bail out the three arrested underlings from the police station.

Fortunately, those underlings kept their mouths shut! They didn't reveal their identity as the mastermind behind it all...

He's been incredibly busy these past few days, researching Sheng Yan's information, negotiating with the Guanzhou Federation, smoothing things over with the police, drinking and dining with clients, going to nightclubs, and even taking bubble baths... and now he still has to go back to work!

Of course, going to work isn't all bad; he saw the loan application materials that Mikoto had submitted.

Should we extend the loan?

After much deliberation, Hiroji Sato finally realized that whether or not to grant the loan was no longer within his control as a junior section chief.

Because the loan collateral documents submitted by Mikoto were truly impressive, Department Head Miyamoto approved them, and the review department also passed the review...

But to suddenly borrow so much money, even to the point of selling everything one owns, Mikoto, whom I remember, was timid and cowardly, and would never do such a thing. It must have been Katsuhiko Takenaka who instigated her.

That kid wouldn't happen to be... a gigolo doing this part-time, would he?

Sato Hiroji carefully recalled Katsuhiko's appearance and shirtless physique, and the more he thought about it, the more likely it seemed.

In recent years, the number of sex workers has become particularly rampant. They specifically target lonely single women, using a combination of coaxing and deception to extract money from them. Once their savings are depleted, they persuade them to take out loans. When the women are unable to repay the loans, they then coax them into prostitution...

Sato Hiroji had sold most of these bad debts to Tanaka Yutaka at a low price, and Tanaka Yutaka cobbled together the money to buy them... It was really great. That idiot thought he could turn things around, but in reality, those bad debts were impossible to recover.

Recently, Hiroji Sato has been wondering why Yutaka Tanaka hasn't been asking him for living expenses.

Of course, it would be best if they didn't ask for money. They're a bunch of parasites, so it's good to cut ties with them and focus on maintaining relations with the Guanzhou Federation.

The first day back to work after the holiday.

As soon as Hiroji Sato arrived at the bank, he saw a depositor dressed in work clothes pounding his fist on the bulletproof glass of the counter.

"I clearly have money in my card, why can't I withdraw it? This is my daughter's dowry, tell me, why! Why!"

Hiroji Sato has encountered this situation many times.

The money deposited by this customer is definitely a fixed-term deposit.

The money in his card had become just numbers; the real money had been taken by some guy at the bank to invest... At this point, that guy was probably piecing things together from various sources.

Things are different now. The bubble economy has collapsed, and those who invested with depositors' savings have lost everything.

Recently, everyone in the bank has been living in fear, worried that fixed depositors might suddenly come to withdraw their money.

Sato Hiroji had been terrified when he saw this situation before, but now he couldn't help but feel secretly pleased. He had almost completely patched up the holes he had created. He really hoped that it was Miyamoto's hole, so that he could be promoted to department head as soon as Miyamoto made a blunder.

At this point, it's time to show some leadership qualities!

"What happened?" Sato Hiroji asked, adopting a leader's demeanor as he walked to the window.

"Section Chief Sato, this Mr. Kudo..."

"So you're the leader!" Mr. Kudo, in his forties, grabbed the collar of the refined-looking Hiroji Sato, his thick forearms bulging with veins. "Tell me, why can't I take it!"

Sigrún has taught at the Iceland University of the Arts as a part-time lecturer since and was Dean of the Department of Fine Art from -. In – she held a research position at Reykjavík Art Museum focusing on the role of women in Icelandic art. She studied fine art at the Icelandic College of Arts and Crafts and at Pratt Institute, New York, and holds BA and MA degrees in art history and philosophy from the University of Iceland. Sigrún lives and works in Iceland.

Today, the first day after the holiday, Katsuhiko handed over the company registration materials to Tanaka Yutaka, and then, together with Sayuri, went to the Shinjuku Ward Office to pick up the new household registration, Fujimoto, and even took a picture together.

With a silly grin, Sayuri linked arms with Katsuhiko as they returned to the convenience store, only to see her mother, Mrs. Kudo.

Mrs. Kudo was still wearing her dishwasher uniform from the barbecue restaurant, with her apron still on.

Her face was pale and she was in a panic. She was holding a glass of water in her hand. Mikoto was half-squatting next to her, gently patting her hand, as if to comfort her.

As soon as Sayuri and Katsuhiko entered the room, Mrs. Kudo suddenly stood up, and Mikoto took the water glass from her hand.

Mrs. Kudo opened her mouth towards Katsuhiko but didn't say anything. Then she looked at Sayuri and said, "Your father has been arrested by the police..."

"Ah!" Little Lily's face turned pale instantly.

Katsuhiko quickly took two steps forward, helped Mrs. Kudo sit back in her chair, and said, "Mother-in-law, please don't be anxious. Tell me what happened first. How were you arrested?"

"He went to the bank to withdraw money today... I don't know what happened, but he got into a fight with them... I heard from the police that he even broke a section chief's leg... I haven't gotten there yet..."

Chapter 41 A Minor Dispute

Mr. Kudo was detained by the police at the Shinjuku Ward Police Station.