Chapter 43: Sonic's Father, Yuji Kiso (Seeking Recommendation Tickets)

  Tamaki Yoshirō shaved his beard in the bathroom, washed his face and came into the living room.

  His wife and daughter had gone to school, and breakfast was already prepared on the dining table. Yukio Kitajima tied his tie while heading to the dining room, where a warm cup of milk, a seven-minute egg, a slice of fried bacon, and several slices of square toast were placed on the table.

  After drinking a mouthful of milk, with a piece of bacon in his mouth, Tamura Yoshirou couldn't help but think of the phone call he received last night.

  The call is from the United States.

  The caller was a friend he had made during his Atari exchange program days, a talented game designer named Mark Cerny, who had since left Atari and joined a new game company as its head of development.

  This company called Mars Entertainment was originally something he had never heard of before.

  However, recently, the Sega company he belongs to seems to be cooperating with a company called Mars Entertainment on a game. The reason is that this company has just developed a game that has become popular in the United States, and the head office wants to introduce it to Japan. He is only one of the deputy directors of the personnel department, and there are five deputy directors like him in the personnel department of Sega's Osaka branch.

  He is the youngest and has the least authority.

  "I even recommended him to Sega before, I didn't expect that he's already become a director at a company now and seems to be doing well." Yoshiki thought about the content of the phone call, and then thought about the confusion and doubts Mark Cerny had expressed about his future two months ago when they talked on the phone. He couldn't help but think that people can change a lot in just a few days - although this phrase wasn't very accurate, it was indeed what Yoshiki was thinking.

  "Appointed as the president of Japan branch?" Mark Sen's words on the phone last night made Tama Hiroshi's heart feel like there was a restless insect crawling inside, making him extremely excited. A salary increase of 50% compared to his current one was simply irresistible.

  Torishimariyaku in Japanese means director. Torishimariyaku shachō means managing director, and daihyō torishimariyaku means representative director.

  To know that in Japan's rigidly hierarchical society, the seniority-based wage system had almost become a tradition in the past decade, with no one daring to challenge it. Japanese companies also took pride in this and considered it one of the foundations of Japan's economic success.

  No matter how great your achievements are, if you want to get a high salary and be promoted to a high position, you must consider seniority, ranking, and qualifications.

  Tamayo Kishirō knew that to get the salary level Mark Cerny had told him about at Sega, it would take at least ten years. Ten years - how many tens of years does a person have in their life?

  But he was still hesitant, after all, he didn't know much about the company where Mark Sennett worked, what if this company went bankrupt?

  But Sega is a big company after all. I came here right after graduating from university, and it took me nine years to get my current position and salary.

  Life can't come again! I have a family, a virtuous wife and an adorable daughter. They need me to be responsible for them. I'm not young anymore, I can't take risks at will.

  If I fail, do I have to start from scratch again? What about my family then?

  The pie in front of you looks tempting, but who knows if there is a hidden deep chasm ahead?

  Ideas gradually cleared up, and Tamaki Yoshirou also seemed to have made a decision, but the salary that Mark Sennett had promised still kept popping out of his mind, as if it couldn't be erased.

  A 50% increase in salary...

  He let out a sigh, ate the last piece of bread, swallowed the last mouthful of milk, and then Yushio Kijiro put on his suit, changed into shoes, and walked out of the house.

  In any case, today's work cannot be delayed.

  Thinking so, Tamaki Yoshirō hurriedly walked towards the station.

  An ordinary residential house in Osaka.

  A young man who looked under twenty, with a 3:7 haircut and wearing round-framed glasses, sat on the tatami mat looking somewhat shy.

  He held a job application form in his hand, the first box was written with Csk Corporation, which is Japan's largest software company. However, behind this application, he himself had drawn a bright red X with a red pen, failure.

  The second grid is written with NEC, the famous Japanese electronics company. However, behind this intention, just like the first one, he drew an X with a red pen, failed.

  The third grid is written as Sharp, Japan's undisputed home appliance giant, with the same intention as the previous two, and still a red X, failure.

  This volunteer form only has three boxes, all of which have been filled and failed. However, on the border outside the box, this young man also wrote four English letters with a pen, sega, shì jiā.

  The young man stared blankly at the volunteer form in his hand, a look of confusion on his face.

  He suddenly clasped his hands to his head, grasping his hair tightly and shaking his brain vigorously, while muttering in a low voice, full of grievances. "Why can't high school students write programs? Why do they only ask about my education and not look at my abilities? Do only college students have the privilege of writing programs?"

  This young man is called Nakayu Tsukasa, 19 years old. He graduated from Nishinoda Industrial High School's Electrical Department this year. Although the name of the school sounds impressive, it is actually a vocational high school, which means he is a high school graduate.

  This is not considered high education in Japan.

  With this educational background, wanting to enter those well-known enterprises in the industry is indeed a bit too ambitious.

  "Brother!" At this moment, the door of Nakayoshi's room was pulled open, and a lovely little girl about 10 years old stood in front of the door, with a red face and pouting mouth, saying "Big lazybones, if you don't get up now, you'll miss the train!"

  Nakayoshi Tsukasa is now in a bad mood, but he still loves his only sister very much. He forced a smile on his face and waved his hand, pretending to be confident: "Kazuko! Don't you know your brother's abilities? This time I'll definitely get the job!"

  "Come on!" The little girl heard her brother's words and also showed a bright smile, while clenching her fists and waving them vigorously, as if cheering for her brother.

  "Today I must succeed!" Nakahara Tsukasa came out of his house, still holding a half-eaten fried egg in his mouth and clenching his fists tightly as he thought to himself.

  Tamotsu Yoshida arrived at the company, took a look at today's work schedule. This afternoon there is an interview session with over ten job applicants, and this afternoon there is a middle-level meeting, seemingly to discuss the promotion of a game.

  "I heard that the agency rights for the game the company just acquired cost a whopping 20 million dollars!"

  "Really? Isn't that tens of billions of yen?"

  "Yes, I heard that this company was just established and has already launched a game that is popular in the US, with sales of $100 million in just one month!"

  "Are you kidding me? How is what you're saying possible, and it's one billion dollars!"

  "Really, I heard it from a friend at headquarters, don't believe me go ask, that company is called Mars Entertainment..."

  Tamotsu Yushiro, who was holding a stack of job search materials, suddenly stopped in his tracks. He stared at the employees who were discussing something, his mind filled with what they had discussed earlier.

  He hesitated for a moment, then walked forward, clearing his throat and intentionally asking in a calm tone: "Isn't that Firestar Entertainment game company just established? How is it possible to have sales of $100 million in just one month?"

  Tamaki Yoshirō is the deputy head of the personnel department. In Japan's rigidly hierarchical society, ordinary employees must bow to him when they meet.

  These ordinary employees who were chatting saw Tamamori Kijuro and hurriedly bowed, after which the informed one carefully answered Tamamori's questions.

  Tamotsu Kirishima, who had received a reply, left with an expressionless face, leaving the few ordinary employees looking at each other in dismay, wondering why their senior colleague, Tamotsu, who was usually uninterested in rumors, would suddenly be interested in an American company.

  Tamotsu Yoshida's mind is now filled with Mars Entertainment and $100 million, he can't wait to verify the information he just heard, the decision made during dinner doesn't seem so solid anymore. He suddenly realizes that the proposition that Mark Sennett came to him with, that it was a small company, doesn't hold up at all.

  A company may have been small before, but when it reaches a sales volume of $100 million per month, it is no longer a small company.

  He walked towards his destination in a daze, the person in charge of this interview was his superior, the head of Sega's Osaka branch personnel department, a very stubborn and thin-skinned person. He had personally experienced the economic miracle of the 1980s, so he often looked down on others with a condescending attitude, frequently using a tone that implied "you people are no better than pigs".

  The person in charge of this interview was originally him, his superior was supposed to go to the headquarters today to listen to President Zhongshan's teachings, but President Zhongshan departed for the United States early this morning, so a high-level meeting that had been arranged was also cancelled.

  Tamotsu Yoshida's superior saw that there was an interview this morning and decided to take charge personally.

  This made Yūshō Kichirō, who was originally in charge of this matter, a dispensable deputy, and he was also somewhat dissatisfied with it, but there was nothing he could do about it.

  Bang!

  Tamotsu Yushio, who was thinking about things, didn't notice ahead and his hand held a cup of coffee that had already stopped steaming. His footsteps were a bit fast, and at a corner, he accidentally bumped into someone.

  At the same time, the cup of coffee in his hand was also unstable, and when the cup tilted, the already lukewarm coffee spilled all over the other person's brand new suit, and the cup fell to the ground and shattered into pieces.

  Fortunately, Tamotsu Yushio's body was still robust, and his body only shook after being hit, without falling down. The person he hit was much thinner than him, and with a single collision, he could only sit on the ground with a thud.

  "Sorry!" Seeing the person sitting on the ground holding their chest, with a painful expression on their face, Tamaki Yoshirou hastily helped them up, still continuously apologizing.

  Zhōng Yùsī covered his chest, silently scolding himself for being so unlucky, as if even drinking water could get stuck in his teeth. After finally finding someone to ask and figuring out where the interview was, he was knocked down by someone without reason just as he arrived. It wasn't until then that he felt a sticky, wet sensation with a warm feeling on the palm of his hand covering his chest.

  He hastily looked down and found that the front of his new suit, which he had just spent a considerable amount of money on for graduation job interviews, was stained with a large patch of yellowish-brown coffee.

  It's completely unwearable.

  Seeing this scene, Zhong Yu's eyes suddenly turned bright red, and he looked at the middle-aged man who had knocked him down with some annoyance.

  He still has an interview today! How can he attend the interview with his clothes like this? Not wearing a suit to the interview will definitely be considered disrespectful to the interviewer and will be ruthlessly kicked out.

  Thinking that he might fail his fourth interview in a row, introverted Nakayoshi had an urge to cry.

  Tamotsu Yoshida glanced at the time on his watch, and a look of anxiety also appeared on his face. The interview was approaching, and if he was late, he would definitely be ridiculed by his superior who had been looking down on him all along.

  He could only tear off a piece of paper from the notebook in the file folder, pick up a pen and scribble down his name and a string of numbers.

  Tamaki Yoshirō handed the paper to Nakayūji, saying in a somewhat urgent tone: "I have an urgent matter to attend to. This is my name and my family's phone number. At noon, go to the personnel department to find me. If I'm not there, call this number tonight. I will definitely compensate you for your clothes."

  Having said that, Tamotsu Yoshida, who couldn't afford to waste any more time, jogged away.

  Zhong Yushi held the paper in his hand, staring blankly at the back of the middle-aged man in his thirties who had knocked him down and was gradually disappearing from view.

  This left him somewhat stunned.

  "Am I an idiot?"

  He suddenly spat out a mouthful of resentment, then glanced at the content on the paper, and in the next second he crumpled up the paper and threw it into the trash can on one side of the aisle without hesitation.

  "It seems like this interview is going to be a failure again." As he thought pessimistically, Nakayoshi Jun peeled off the suit he was wearing and carried it in his hand, walking listlessly towards the location of the interview. Although he knew his hopes were slim, Nakayoshi didn't want to give up just yet; after all, he had to try before he could truly give up.

  What he didn't notice was that he and the middle-aged man who had just knocked him to the ground were walking in exactly the same direction.

  Inside the interview room.

  Sitting in a chair, Tamaki Yoshirou listlessly stared at the job application form in front of him.

  The fifty-year-old elder beside him completely controlled the entire job-seeking process, and he and the other two assistants were like spectators, only able to watch the whole process.

  All job seekers' problems were handled by this personnel manager, Tsubaki-senpai, who was beside him, and he couldn't even get a word in edgewise.

  At first, whenever he was interested in a job applicant and wanted to ask more questions, his predecessor Suzuki would give him a cold look and say, "Your interview is over, next one."

  Facing this situation, Yushio Tamura, who can't even conflict with his own superior, simply ignores it and lets Suzuki-senpai handle the interview as he pleases. He doesn't interfere, thinking that if the person hired is unqualified, the personnel department's chief will be responsible anyway.

  He is also happy and relaxed.

  "Next."

  With this voice, Tamaki Yoshirou casually flipped over the resume of the previous interviewee.

  His eyebrows suddenly furrowed as he looked at the photo on the job application letter of the next candidate in front of him.

  Isn't this the young man who was knocked down by himself earlier?

  Tamaki Yoshirou hastily shifted his gaze to the column with the name, Nakahara Tsukasa, Education, Nishinoda Industrial High School Electrical Department...High school?

  When he saw the column of academic qualifications, Yushio's pupils suddenly contracted. He suddenly thought of the contemptuous attitude of his colleague Suzuki towards people with university degrees or below. He quickly looked at the other person's job application intention, game developer, or programmer.

  Tamaki Kijirō muttered to himself, "This is terrible." Given his superior's stubbornness, he would absolutely never agree to let someone with only a high school education apply for such a highly technical position.

  Not wearing a suit, but just wearing a white shirt, the front of which still faintly visible brown stains, Zhong Yu walked in, he first bowed to the interviewer inside the house.

  The moment he walked in, Yukio's boss, Suzuki Kacho, furrowed his brow, seemingly extremely dissatisfied with the other person's attire.

  "Hmph!" Seeing his opponent's respectful bow, he merely hummed a cold, expressionless sound, as if looking down on it.

  Then, Suzuki bowed his head and took a glance at the job seeker's resume in front of him. He didn't know what he saw, but his face suddenly turned bright red, and a fierce glare shot out from his pupils.

  He slammed his hand on the table and stood up.

  A finger pointed at Zhong Yu, with a mouthful of angry scolding.

  "Is your teacher at school teaching you to use this kind of attitude when looking for a job?"

  As soon as he saw Nakahara, his face turned bright red. Suzuki seemed to become even more unreasonable and continued to speak in a sharp tone: "It's really embarrassing for your teacher to have taught a student with no manners like you."

  For Suzuki's accusations, Nakayoshi could only blush and lower his head, unable to say a word.

  "Slap!" Yūshō Kijirō, who had been somewhat apologetic to Takaaki Nakahara, could no longer bear it. He slammed his hand on the table and stood up, interrupting Suzuki's words with the sound of his palm hitting the desk.

  Tamaki Yoshirō gazed intently at his superior, Suzuki, and said with a calm demeanor: "Suzuki-senpai, don't you think it's a bit excessive to speak of a young person in such a way?"

  PS: Seeking recommendation votes!!!! Old Ji, I gave you the role you wanted.