I Found a Hole in my Yard. It Might Be a Dungeon, but That’s Now my Garbage Dump - Chapter 46

Chapter 46: Welcome Ceremony, An Event to Pursue National Interests

On the top floor of MCTBH is a large hall that can accommodate several hundred people.

MCTBH, which is now one of the world’s largest corporations, is required to hold not only performance reports as a corporate activity, but also environmental reports including SDGs, briefings and community events for local residents, press releases for the media and entertainment parties for politicians and bureaucrats. It’s not economical or convenient to rent an international hotel for each of these events.

The wall of windows is made of glass, which is highly appreciated by guests not only for its functionality in terms of lighting, but also for its view of Tokyo, as when the weather permits it, they could see the Tokyo Sky Tree and Tokyo Tower rising from the south, and Mt. Fuji from the west.

In the hall, Hiroki, Ishida, and other executives of MCTBH and the joint European delegation from England, Russia, France, Germany and other countries were having a sordid pursuit of national interests in the name of a welcome ceremony.

“Well, good grief, that is a wonderful technology. If high-level radioactive waste can be rendered harmless, nuclear power will once again regain its position as mankind’s primary power source! I hope President Hiroki will give a keynote speech at the Davos Forum!”

Across from Hiroki, raising a glass of champagne in a good mood, is a bureaucrat dispatched from France. The sharp-looking man, who seems to be a graduate of the Grandes École, doesn’t hide his good mood.

France, which hasn’t given up its nuclear technology even when Europe, where environmental protection activities are popular, must be in a good mood if the era of nuclear power generation is coming again.

“What do you think? I don’t believe the data that MCTBH is producing. It should theoretically be impossible to neutralize radioactive waste. Frankly speaking, I’m quite skeptical of this.”

On the contrary, a female bureaucrat dispatched from Germany didn’t hide her stern expression. The government, which has abandoned nuclear power generation as a matter of national policy, has devoted its entire policy to natural power sources such as solar and wind power generation, and has soaring electricity prices, is now being accused of a complete review of their policies and past policy errors, which isn’t likely to improve their mood.

Even though domestic car companies aren’t doing well due to the falsification issue of diesel engine emissions and the US is ahead of them in electric vehicles, if Germany falls behind in environmental policy as well, it’s international standing as Europe’s leading power will inevitably decline.

So, she’s determined to expose MCTBH’s fraud and earn points for her country.

“To be honest, we are also still skeptical about their technology’s ability to completely render radioactive waste harmless.”

Perhaps having drunk alcohol, a red-faced Russian bureaucrat expressed the same concern as the German.

He must have been using drunkenness as an excuse to speak his thoughts, as no one who is going to make a career in Russia would get drunk on a few glasses of champagne or cocktails.

Even if he spoke a little strongly, he would probably try to cover it up by saying “I was drunk when I said those words”.

Rather than economic reasons though, Russia is more concerned about this technology to render radioactive waste harmless for security reasons.

Russia, which lags behind the US in the quality of its conventional weapons, still considers its nuclear retaliation strategy, or Mutually Assured Destruction (MAD), to be one of the pillars of its national defense, and therefore, they must be sensitive to any technology that could weaken the effectiveness of their nuclear weapons.

Even though Russia’s center of balance as a nation remains in Western Europe, where Moscow is located, it can’t afford to neglect the defense of Siberia in the East, which is linked to the US.

All of the bureaucrats in this hall are elites who have gone through a thousand different ordeals to achieve their national interests.

They all have clear heads and sharp tongues.

They were all sent out with the intention of conducting an audit in the name of an inspection team only, or more specifically, to conduct judgment through the examination to destroy MCTBH’s business, which is detrimental to their national interest.

However, their plans have so far continued to bounce off solid walls.

One of those standing on their path was the theoretical wall.

Ishida, who is regarded as the person who has made a substantial contribution to the development of MCTBH into a huge company in a short period of time, calmly and logically answered the bureaucrats’ questions, which could be regarded as nothing more than flattery at times, and left no room for rebuttal.

And another wall that is stronger than that is the psychological wall.

If their opponents can’t be countered by logic, they will shout, make accusations, and threaten with the power of their country. The negotiation skills of the bureaucrats who carry the national interest of Europe are such that they are willing to exert both tangible and intangible pressure.

However, the kind of external negotiation logic that has worked with Japanese ministers and bureaucrats doesn’t work at all with Hiroki, the Owner/President of the company.

In their home countries, these bureaucrats, who boast of their tremendous negotiating skills and have the guts to cross paths with big-name politicians and military officers, somehow feel uneasy in front of Hiroki. As if they were suddenly brought out to fight barehanded against a grizzly bear, they just can’t stop shaking.

In order to negotiate, one must gaze into the other party’s eyes.

However, they can’t do such a thing against those eyes.

When they meet Hiroki’s eyes, the bureaucrats immediately lose their grip, their teeth clench, they look away, and they shrink back, so there’s no way for them to negotiate.

[Well then, I see you don’t have any questions for me.]

Even when Hiroki indifferently tells them such, they could only nod their heads.

The European bureaucrats were forced to withdraw from that situation by their fundamental fear, a barrier that they couldn’t overcome by their humanity.

As Hiroki and Ishida were dealing with the European delegation, one of the officers who had arrived quickly whispered something to Ishida.

[What is it?]

[We are under a massive cyber attack. It seems that some people are trying to hack our network.]

Ishida answered Hiroki’s question.

[I suppose that’s something they’d obviously do.]

It’s quite a blatant attack, a cyber-attack at a time when their command capability has been reduced in response to the joint inspection team’s visit.

[Also, it seems that we are missing about 5 guests.]

The welcoming ceremony is being held in the form of a standing buffet party so that everyone can negotiate with as many people as possible.

The freedom of movement also means that it’s impossible for them to keep track of who isn’t seated.

The people in the delegation who were on different missions wouldn’t have missed this great opportunity, where people were coming and going, changing clothes and using the restrooms, and where a few people temporarily leaving the area would be hard to spot.

[Their IDs?]

[Looks like it’s been thrown away or destroyed. We can’t trace them.]

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Hiroki shrugged.

[Then, those without IDs aren’t guests. Tell them there’s no need to hesitate in dealing with them.]

As he looked down through the hall’s north window with his black hole-like eyes at the center of the crater-shaped processing facility, where The Hole is in, Hiroki muttered in a low voice inaudible to others.

[Well then, let’s see if anyone can reach The Hole……]