He is Already a Tycoon at a Young Age! - Chapter 89



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Episode 89 – The End Times Will Be a Time of Suffering

“Choi, shouldn’t you at least make a statement?”

Richter stood up and paced the room, speaking.

“Well, it was all because of Rocketman in the first place. The state of Tennessee also enacted a law targeting Rocketman.”

“Tennessee State.”

I leaned back against the chair.

I was thinking of getting some rest after the convention.

I knew something like this would happen.

Is there any place as dynamic as the United States?

It all started with a prohibition law in Tennessee, which banned all comic books and novels that contradicted the Bible.

‘I guess he became a target because Rocketman became popular.’

Since the release of the Cyclegruber, it has attracted national attention.

Eventually, a young man was arrested while reading Rocketman in a public library.

A trial date has already been set.

‘The town of Dayton, Tennessee.’

Even in the South, wasn’t Tennessee a particularly conservative state?

“I never thought that Rocketman would claim that it contradicts the Bible.”

Isn’t this rather a Christian story?

An order of knights who protect justice and order.

The distinction between good and evil is also clear.

“I don’t think the young man was caught reading a comic book by accident. He might have done it on purpose.”

“Hey, on purpose? Is there a reason for that?”

“It’s common to resist unjust laws.”

Something similar happened in the history of the Yuan Dynasty.

A school teacher who taught evolution was arrested and brought to trial.

The so-called ‘monkey trial’.

Wasn’t that Tennessee too?

“Come to think of it, Che, as soon as you were arrested, you asked the Civil Liberties Union and us for help. What should we do?”

“We can afford to pay for the lawyers’ fees. Like you said, this happened because of Rocketman.”

“I think it would be okay for me to just let go.”

Richter sighed and muttered.

“America is a country where most people are Christians. If something like this happens, it could have a negative impact on the company’s image.”

“It depends on how you think about it.”

The monkey trial that happened because of the theory of evolution. The theory of evolution was not buried by this trial.

‘It was quite the opposite.’

As the trial became a national event, fundamentalists were ridiculed and evolution attracted great attention.

They arrested a man for reading a comic book that wasn’t about evolution.

How ridiculous would this look to the public?

But it’s a bit difficult to turn the religious community into an enemy.

‘America has a strong Christian influence.’

Richter said.

“What if Rockefeller was involved? He must have been waiting for an opportunity to get revenge because of the Compound H incident…”

“It couldn’t have been Rockefeller-led. It would have been too crude and lacking in justification.”

Rockefeller is not the type of person to resort to such cheap tricks.

If it moves the political world, then maybe it doesn’t matter.

“Then, you’re not going to make an official announcement?”

“Let’s just see how things go. If we move rashly, we’ll only give the fundamentalists a reason to attack.”

After saying that, I knocked on the desk.

“First, we need to set a clear goal. What can we gain from this issue?”

The Rocketman comic that started out as an attempt to convince Hugo Gernsback.

It has now become a popular icon.

If it wasn’t popular, this controversy wouldn’t have erupted.

“Oh, if I can get it…”

“You can gain more popularity by using the image of being persecuted by fundamentalists. It’s the same as Prohibition.”

“The more you ban something, the more interest there is in it, right? Looking at the number of Americans drinking alcohol these days, that seems to be true.”

“If the fruit of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil had not been forbidden, would Adam and Eve have eaten it?”

Innovation and novelty.

A great opportunity to solidify Rocketman’s image.

When news of this trial becomes known, Europe will also show interest.

It can become a global icon beyond the United States.

It’s also known that I’m the author of Rocketman, so that will be my influence.

“Hey, so maybe Alf, you were behind the passage of the law in Tennessee this time?”

“I was behind it. What do you mean?”

“They deliberately let that ban law pass to raise this issue…”

“I’m not that omnipotent.”

As I said that, I looked at the table. A map showing the entire United States.

Tennessee was slightly below.

Just above Tennessee is Kentucky.

Kentucky…

“But any crisis can be turned into an opportunity.”

＊＊＊

rockefeller foundation

Medical Research Institute

“What on earth did you do with all that money?!”

An angry roar echoed through the lab. John D. Rockefeller, Jr.

Rockefeller Jr. clenched his fist and shouted.

“That Hitler guy found a way to refine Compound H in just a few months! And he did it using corn that was all over the place! He didn’t even spend half as much money as we did! And don’t we have five times as many researchers?!”

“I’m sorry, but this kind of research requires a lot of experimentation and time, Chairman.”

The middle-aged research institute director answered with a blush on his face.

“Do you know what substance in the world could be used to mass-produce Compound H? Hitler must have been lucky, or he must have been studying the refining method in advance.”

“You were lucky. Do you think that’s an excuse? Are you saying that you couldn’t develop because you were unlucky?”

“Original research took a lot of time and resources…”

“How much more do you really need?!”

Rockefeller Jr. took a deep breath and straightened his clothes.

His father instructed him to mass-produce Compound H ahead of Hitler.

The Rockefeller Foundation has already invested in research centers and hospitals around the world.

He would soon surpass Hitler, who had just entered the foundation business.

“But I still can’t even keep up with your toes…”

The Rockefeller Foundation’s efforts were completely overshadowed by Hitler’s announcement at the Detroit Convention that he would mass-produce Compound H.

Mass production using corn syrup.

Now the Rockefeller Foundation had to either pay Hitler huge royalties or find a new refining method.

“I’ll give you exactly three months. Within that time, you must somehow find a refining method that is better than theirs.”

As he strode out of the lab, all the remaining researchers sighed.

“Three months? We’re not Hitler.”

“That’s right.”

＊＊＊

[Tennessee youth arrested for reading Rocketman comics!]

[Jennings Bryan volunteered for the prosecution, and rationalists such as Clarence Darrow and Garfield Hayes joined the defense team, gradually turning the case into a confrontation between the religious and scientific communities…]

The story of a young man arrested for reading comics in a public library shook America.

The Rocketman incident that occurred right after the Detroit convention ended.

People called this uproar the “Rocket Trial” or the “Sicklgruber Trial.”

The small Tennessee town was packed with people, reporters, and merchants who wanted to watch the trial.

“I’ll give you five hundred dollars a day! No, six hundred dollars!”

“RCA promised $700.”

“Then how about $720?!”

Telegraph and radio companies rushed to lease stores close to the courthouse.

Some grocery stores even had as many as 20 telegraph operators on staff.

There are more outsiders than locals in the town.

Stalls selling food and drinks were also set up along the roads.

“Hotdogs! We sell hotdogs made with fresh ingredients!”

“You can receive Rocketman by applying here!”

Although Rocketman was banned from sale in Tennessee, it was possible to ship it out of state.

Merchants sold counterfeit goods and shipped them from other states with Rocket Man included as a free gift.

The sound of people talking, telegraph operators sending Morse code.

The village was noisy with all kinds of sounds.

As the first hearings began, media attention turned not only to Tennessee but also to New York.

Hitler.

How would Adolf Hitler react if he were revealed to be the author of Rocketman?

“So you still haven’t heard anything from Hitler?”

Hurst asked, leaning back in his chair.

Executive conference room.

All the newspaper executives looked at Hearst with nervous expressions.

“Yes, Chairman. There has been no official statement yet. I heard they didn’t say much to the reporters either.”

“Are you saying you’re just going to wait and see? That’s not like him.”

Hurst puffed out smoke from his cigarette.

“Just keep the reporters there. I have a feeling something big is going to happen.”

“We already have more people in Tennessee than our competitors. We’ll be able to get information faster than anyone else.”

“I’m telling you to worry more about Hitler than about Tennessee. How he behaves will determine what happens next.”

Hurst was lost in thought.

The identity of the Cyclegruber was revealed a while ago.

‘Sales jumped by more than 20%.’

Hitler had a talent for getting people’s attention.

I won’t stay still this time either.

How should we respond?

Just then someone opened the conference room door and came in.

An officer who received the servant’s report stood up immediately.

“They say Hitler left New York by train last night.”

“You left New York, so where did you go? Tennessee? You wouldn’t have called Hitler to the courtroom, would you?”

“It’s on the Tennessee side, but I think he’s going to stop in Kentucky first. I heard he even made an appointment with the governor.”

“Kentucky?”

Hurst frowned and asked back.

State of Kentucky.

Isn’t that the state right above Tennessee?

“Why is Hitler suddenly going there?”

“…”

As silence fell in the conference room, the executives looked at each other.

“Kentucky…Kentucky…Oh, I see! Of course it is!”

Hurst shouted.

“Didn’t you say you’re going to mass-produce Compound H soon? Then you’ll need to build a factory.”

“That means…”

“Kentucky is famous for corn. If we build a factory there, it will be easy to get a supply of corn syrup.”

“But why go out and look for a factory site now? It would be better to do it after the trial issue has died down. Isn’t the timing bad?”

“You only know one thing, but you don’t know two. Now is the best time.”

Hurst said with a chuckle.

“Kentucky and Tennessee have been rivals for many years. What happens if you promise to build factories in Kentucky and surrounding states?”

“…there will be fewer states siding with Tennessee.”

“That’s it. That guy Hitler used the pretext of setting up a factory to try to win over the states around Tennessee. It was a kind of preparatory work. He’s such a clever guy.”

Hitler didn’t always tackle the issues directly.

When suspicions about the foundation arose, they responded by revealing Compound H.

Isn’t the whole world already crazy about Compound H?

The suspicions about the Foundation had long since melted away.

“Newspaper sales are going to skyrocket again this time. Tell your staff to prepare in advance.”

“Yes, Chairman. I will make all preparations.”

“I wonder what he’s planning this time…”

Hurst grinned and muttered, feeling that something big was about to happen.

How will it explode?

“I can’t even imagine.”

===＊＊＊===

Author’s Note

Q: What exactly is the monkey trial?

A: The 1920s were a period of continuing religious strife between fundamentalists, skeptics, and rationalists in America.

The climax was the Scopes case, or monkey trial, in Tennessee in 1925.

The Tennessee legislature, which was controlled by fundamentalists, passed a law stating that “it shall be unlawful for any teacher in any college, high school, or public school in this state to teach any doctrine which denies the divine creation of man, as taught in the Bible, or that he is descended from the lower order of animals.”

In response, a high school biology teacher named John Scopes deliberately taught evolution and then turned himself in, leading to a trial.

The unprecedented hiring of one attorney to represent both the defendant and the plaintiff occurred, and news of the trial heated up the entire United States.

The Scopes trial was also the first trial to be broadcast live on radio nationwide.

(Source – Wonderful America, Allen, FL)