Lady Joker, Volume 1 by Kaoru Takamura (lightest ebook reader .txt) 📕

“No, no numbers,” Shirai objected again. “If we start throwing around estimates, it’ll look like the damage to our product is a foregone conclusion. That’ll only invite more complications. For tonight, we should limit ourselves to stating that an attack on our products is a predictable outcome.”

“But if the criminals say they’ll get in touch before Golden Week, there is a mountain of things that need to be prepared by then. We can’t afford to delay gathering the board’s consensus.”

Shiroyama looked at the clock, which showed 6:20 p.m. It was about time for them to wrap this up.

“Kurata-san. Regarding preparation, I believe there are practices we can implement within the framework of risk management, rather than assuming that our products will be damaged. We should aim to gather the board’s consensus under a more ambiguous context. In any case, I need for everyone to have an accurate grasp of the situation in which Hinode Beer finds itself. Only then would I like for them to outline how the corporation will respond to the circumstances predicted. I also need for them to okay the fact that I lied to the police. I’m counting on the both of you to take charge of the proceedings.”

“Well, that’s it then,” Shirai said, slapping his knee. Beside him, Kurata said, “Shirai-san, will you convey the issue we discussed?” He bowed and excused himself.

Shiroyama watched him go, then turned back to Shirai. “What issue?”

“The incident with the mysterious tape from 1990 has been leaked to the rest of the board members . . . I won’t name names but I’ve asked a few executives whom they heard it from, and every one of them said they received an anonymous phone call at home before they came to work this morning. Actually, I received one myself.”

“What did the caller say?”

“That there had been a case of employment discrimination at Hinode in 1990. The caller had a Kansai accent . . . When I checked with the other executives, some said the caller spoke in a Kansai dialect, while others said it was standard Japanese, so I suspect there were multiple callers. As far as I could confirm, there are five executives who received a call. I’ve explicitly instructed them not to speak of the matter to anyone.”

“Did the caller make any specific threats?”

“No, nothing like that, but the names Takayuki Hatano and Hiroyuki Hatano were mentioned. Your niece’s name did not come up. In any case, since all of the calls were made to the executives at their home, it seems likely the source has some kind of connection with our company.”

“What is the likelihood that Okada is behind this . . . ?”

“I can’t say. Kurata said it’s possible they’ve decided to take advantage of the kidnapping incident to jolt us into making the land sale . . . In any case, we need to lock down the board.”

After Shirai left, Shiroyama looked at the clock again. 6:27 p.m. He took another sip of Hinode Meister, but the beer had already gone flat and lost all flavor.

At half past six in the evening, the eighteen faces that convened in the executive conference room included the fifteen directors from Hinode’s main office—excluding those from their subsidiary and affiliated companies—as well as the manager of general affairs, the director of public relations, and finally Kotani, the representative from the risk management company. There was no one to record meeting notes nor were there any beverages, and once all of the attendees had gathered, the soundproof door was closed and locked from inside, and a hush fell over the room.

Since the autumn of last year, a whiteboard—a sight unsuited to this electronic age—had been placed inside the conference room. After the risk management system was introduced within the company, the main emphasis had been on information management, and the whiteboard was a means of substantially decreasing the volume of various documents being exchanged internally in the interest of confidentiality. Most business was conducted over electronic mail, and items that needed to be saved were managed in bulk on the company’s network server. The heaps of documents that used to be distributed at internal meetings had decreased, and anything that needed to be spelled out could be jotted on the whiteboard and erased after they were finished. These same rules applied to board meetings, without exception. For essential materials, each employee’s ID number would be stamped onto every page that was copied and distributed, to prevent loss or leaks.

Kotani was the one who had proposed these reforms and, after obtaining the board’s approval, had gone on to create an explicit system of measures. The implementation of Kotani’s system met with considerable resistance from the board, and it only came about because Kurata and Shirai together pushed hard for it—the former citing the necessity of corporate defense against extortionists and the latter citing threats from industry spies and cyber crime. Yet even now, about half of the board members still grumbled about the costs incurred.

It was true that the initial installation in the information management sector alone—designing the network security system; adding servers; digitalization of all telecommunication equipment, including phones; shuffling personnel in order to further strengthen the network; expenses for training employees for managerial positions—had cost them close to two billion yen.

Moreover, in the crime prevention sector they had needed to increase the number of security cameras in all of their branch offices and factories and infrared alarm systems for after-work hours, produce all the various risk management manuals, and equip all employee ID cards with magnetic strips. When the Great Hanshin Earthquake had struck at the beginning of this year, they had taken the opportunity to further quake-proof their water tanks and private power generation system as well as to retain a company that specialized in backing up their recovery discs, so there were these additional costs. Each of these items resulted in meetings and more complications, and Shiroyama forced them all through, urging everyone that it was