Planting a Piece

Nakayama Takuya flipped through the list in the report.

Many of the names felt unfamiliar even to him, a transmigrator—old antiques from Showa-era arcades.

"The thinking is sound." After reading a few pages, Nakayama Takuya closed the file. "Turn dead assets into running water. But add one clause to the licensing agreement: for finished products developed by third parties, Sega retains the right of first refusal. Don't repeat the old farce where Nintendo licensed out Donkey Kong and ended up suffering chaos from it."

"The legal department is already drafting a standard contract." Hoshino noted it down in his memo.

Once they had finished communicating about the copyright sorting work, Hoshino closed his memo and prepared to get up and return to his own office.

"Don't leave yet." Nakayama Takuya stopped him.

Hoshino halted and sat back down properly.

"Last year, I had you draw out people to keep an eye on Southeast Asia's economic situation." Nakayama Takuya tidied the documents on his desk to one side and crossed his hands on the tabletop. "Have you noticed any changes now?"

Hoshino opened the latter half of his notebook, where he had recorded the various macroeconomic briefings he had read recently.

"The situation over there is very subtle." Hoshino looked at the notes he had made, his brows furrowing. "Countries like Thailand and Indonesia have kept their economic growth rates above eight percent for years. On the surface, they're prospering to an absurd degree. Some people on Wall Street are calling them Asia's new tiger cubs."

He paused briefly, then continued explaining his judgment.

"But when I look at their data, I always feel something is off. The scale of hot money flowing in and out is enormous. The speed at which foreign capital is flooding in far exceeds their real