All the Heroines are my Ex-girlfriends

Chapter 71: The Meaning of 'Laplace'

"Regarding the desired salary."

At this point, Yukinoshita Yukino's words suddenly stopped.

She truly needed the money.

Moreover, with her abilities and the position she was applying for, a high salary was entirely deserved.

Asking for a reasonable salary also aligned with her sense of justice.

But in today's society, finding a job was really difficult.

Perhaps it would be better to lower the salary expectations?

While Yukinoshita Yukino was still a bit uncertain.

Yukima Azuma clapped his hands lightly.

"Alright, Yukinoshita-san, I have a general understanding of your requirements."

"However, the situation of our company might not be what you think it is."

Upon hearing this, Yukinoshita Yukino immediately stood up, a bit flustered.

She hadn't even mentioned the salary yet.

Why was she being dismissed already?

At that moment, Yukinoshita Yukino's normally straight back seemed like it couldn't bear the pressure and was about to bend.

But before she could speak.

"Please hear me out first."

Yukima Azuma also stood up and gently pressed her back into the chair.

His voice, though calm, carried a strange force that made it hard to refuse.

It made Yukinoshita Yukino unconsciously follow what he said.

"Anyway, let me first summarize the current situation of Laplace Corporation for you to understand."

Yukima Azuma tapped lightly on the table.

Yukinoshita Yukino immediately focused her attention.

But the words that followed from Yukima Azuma left Yukino dumbfounded.

"The registered capital of the company is, as Yukinoshita-san mentioned, 1.5 billion yen, which is about 10 million US dollars."

"Although the amount on paper isn't small, in reality, the entire working capital of the company has already been fully invested."

Yukino widened her eyes, speechless.

If what Yukima Azuma said was true.

Then, this company, though just newly established, was actually already a hollow shell.

Before the flow of funds could be restored, the company could face the risk of bankruptcy at any time.

However, that was just the beginning of the information.

"The registered location of Laplace Corporation is on the Wall Street. In fact, there are currently no operations in Japan."

"So, the investment management position or risk evaluation specialist that Yukinoshita-san requested can't actually be carried out."

"However, if you join now, you would be considered a founding partner of the company, responsible for expanding the territory in Japan."

"Currently, due to a lack of capital from the parent company, the branch will temporarily not carry out investment operations but will take on other tasks."

"For example, developing games."

"And the most important thing right now is to find an office that can be rented, so the branch can start operating normally."

According to Yukima Azuma explanation.

Yukinoshita Yukino's mood gradually sank.

This was really unreliable.

Isn't this a "penny-pinching" company?

Although the company is involved in large investment transactions abroad.

But in Japan, there is no money, no people, no foundation.

Other than the not-so-famous company name, there's nothing at all.

Wait, the more I hear, the more it feels like it's describing me?

Yukinoshita Yukino realized that her situation wasn't much different.

No work skills, no social connections, no money.

Aside from the reputation of the University of Tokyo and the Yukinoshita surname she couldn't make use of, there was nothing.

Oh, well then it's fine.

What right does she have to criticize a "penny-pinching" company?

Clearly, she was about to not be able to pay her own rent.

"I understand now, Yukima-san, please directly let me know the position and salary when I'm hired."

Yukino said with a dim gaze.

"Umu, let's start with the human resources management position first, as it's the most troublesome area here."

"As for the salary… although it's a bit disappointing for you, Yukinoshita-san, this is still the startup phase."

Upon hearing this, Yukino once again lowered her expectations for the poor salary in her mind.

At the very least, it should be around 100,000 yen.

Otherwise, she wouldn't be able to survive.

By the way, the current hourly wage for convenience store workers in Japan is usually around 800-900 yen.

"The initial offer is 1 million yen per month (6366.34 USD), how does that sound? Of course, once the company starts operating smoothly, the salary will definitely increase."

Yukima Azuma said.

Yukino blinked, feeling like she had misheard.

How much did the guy just say the salary was?

"That…" Yukino intended to ask again to confirm.

But Yukima Azuma continued speaking, not waiting for her to say anything.

"This is a test interview, please help me choose the office location for the company."

"This is a list of office buildings I've pre-selected that are available for rent."

"And this is the company's budget… well, actually, it's the balance of my account."

"Please, Yukinoshita-san, try to be a little frugal, at least leave me enough money for food."

Yukima Azuma pushed the laptop he brought with him toward her.

Then he took out his phone, opened his bank account balance screen, and pushed it in front of Yukino.

Yukino instinctively glanced at Yukima Azuma's phone screen.

The string of numbers made her feel like she had been hit hard.

Not because the amount was too large.

After all, coming from the Yukinoshita family, she had seen amounts hundreds of times greater than this.

But this balance… compared to her current situation...

At first, she thought he was a "multi-level marketing employee."

It turned out that the so-called "lack of money" of his was just a lack of money compared to billions, right?

Yukinoshita Yukino stared at Yukima Azuma.

She felt like she had been mocked.

However, after that, Yukino seriously started choosing an office building.

The balance in Yukima Azuma's account was about 30 million yen.

Part of it came from the profits of the game.

The rest was from prize money from shogi tournaments.

In official tournaments, in addition to the prize for the final champion, each victory actually comes with a cash reward.

Therefore, in reality, the earning potential of professional shogi players in Japan is quite astounding.

"What about this one?"

Yukino chose an office building available for rent.

Renting the entire building was clearly not feasible.

But renting a few floors should definitely be fine.

However, this was also thanks to the collapse of Japan's economic bubble a few years ago.

Otherwise, the real estate prices in Tokyo might have been so high that even dogs would shake their heads.

Yukima Azuma looked over Yukino's choice, then extended his hand toward her.

"Welcome to Laplace Corporation, Yukinoshita-san."

Yukino extended her hand and shook hands with Yukima Azuma.

...

Leaving the café, the two of them headed toward the selected office building.

As they got into the taxi, Yukino looked at the café sign and couldn't help but find it a bit amusing.

No wonder the interview was held at a café.

Because basically, there was no company office.

But it wasn't completely untrustworthy either.

Now the two of them were in the process of renting an office location.

A spending of tens of millions of yen, and the guy beside her didn't even blink.

Come to think of it, were there any wealthy families or middle-class families with the surname Yukima in Tokyo?

Yukino tried to recall, but couldn't find any information.

Sitting in the taxi, she looked at the side profile of the young man.

Suddenly, Yukino felt a sense of familiarity.

As if she had met this young man somewhere before.

But right after that, she shook her head.

How could that be!?

Since she was young, she had never liked mingling with people from the upper class.

Because of her personality.

Her mother, Madam Yukinoshita, had never taken her to any galas.

If she had, it would have been with her older sister, Yukinoshita Haruno.

Therefore, their lives before this, even if they coincidentally overlapped, would have been nothing more than a brief encounter.

And Yukinoshita Yukino certainly didn't retain any impressions of people who only crossed her path briefly.

No matter how handsome that young man was.

So that feeling of familiarity was definitely just an illusion.

Yukinoshita Yukino concluded.

The two of them got out of the car in front of an office building in the Shibuya area.

Since they had informed in advance, the real estate agent arrived early.

When he saw them get out of the car, the agent immediately greeted them with a smile and quickly walked over.

There was no other choice. The real estate market was sluggish.

Now, there were fewer and fewer people willing to rent office spaces.

As an agent, the pressure was naturally immense.

Yukima Azuma and Yukinoshita Yukino followed the real estate agent upstairs to the office floors for inspection.

After all, this was an office building in the Shibuya area.

The environment was truly excellent.

From the top floor, they could overlook the entire Shibuya shopping street.

Moreover, as long as they rented for a year, the equipment on the floor would be included as a bonus.

The floor that Yukima Azuma selected already had a fair number of desks available.

It was said that it had previously been rented by a securities company, but the company went bankrupt two years ago due to pressure.

After inspecting and confirming there were no issues, Yukima Azuma nodded.

The real estate agent immediately called the building's owner.

When the owner heard that someone was interested in renting an office, and for a full year, he quickly said he would come right away.

The office building had been vacant, and the management and service fees were almost draining the owner's finances.

The contract was signed smoothly.

The owner, after reassuring that any issues could be directed to him, quickly left.

Only Yukinoshita Yukino and Yukima Azuma remained in the empty office building.

"President, what should we do next?" Yukino asked.

She had completely adopted the role of a salaried employee.

"Hire people, prioritize recruiting programmers first. It's already May, so we need to hurry."

"Also, Yukinoshita-san, pay particular attention to talent in the fields of artificial intelligence and the Internet of Things."

"Unlike programming, these two fields should not be recruited haphazardly. Better to have fewer, but better talent. We will need to invest heavily. Soon, our financial resources will become quite abundant."

Yukima Azuma outlined the next steps.

Yukino listened attentively while taking notes on important information with her phone.

Recruiting programmers, Yukino thought she could understand.

Comiket, the Tokyo manga exhibition, would be held in June. (Author's note: Actually in August and December, but let's overlook that.) (Translator's note: lol)

Yukima Azuma mentioned they would be handling game development.

It was clear this project had to be completed before Comiket.

The timeline was indeed tight.

However, programming could be managed, but the scriptwriting and illustrations were definitely the most challenging parts.

Although she had questions, Yukino said nothing more.

These were Yukima Azuma's responsibilities as the president to worry about.

As for recruiting talent in AI and IoT, Yukino couldn't contain her curiosity and finally asked:

"President, as far as I know, these two technologies are still largely theoretical."

"Not just in Japan, but worldwide, there aren't any truly excellent practical applications yet."

"So, are we recruiting in these fields... to start a supplementary course?"

Hearing this, Yukima Azuma couldn't help but chuckle softly.

"Speaking of which, Yukinoshita-san, do you know the meaning of the name 'Laplace'?"