Time skip to January 1st, 1988
[Main POV]
January 1st, 1988 was the first annual board meeting of Apollo Enterprises. Here, I intended to showcase the new products for the new year.
On my right was Olivia, the Chief Operating Officer, Emily, the Chief Human Resources Officer, and Madison, the Chief Marketing Officer. Madison was one of the OG girls from the orphanage and was hired last year on the marketing team. Unlike the others, she immediately recognized the potential of the Internet for marketing and caught my attention by becoming one of the fastest growing YouTube channels, having over half a million subscribers to date.
Along with blonde hair and blue eyes, she was blessed physically in the asset department, and her bubbly personality only helped in growing her popularity online. However, I knew her as a stone cold, emotionless sociopath that would do anything to get a slight edge.
Madison could get anyone to trust her with their secrets. She could twist any situation to her advantage using her fake persona and quick wit. Not to mention her intuition on social dynamics was downright scary. Exactly the type of person I wanted on my team.
Bringing her to my inner circle was pretty simple. While she put up a convincing façade, nothing stopped me from reading her mind. And I let her know it.
I delved into her mind and threw her deepest thoughts back at her. But still she clung onto her fake persona, despite the hopelessness of her situation. So I did the only thing I could think of. I killed her.
Almost.
I grabbed her and teleported us both to the Sahara Desert. Basically, the middle of nowhere. With no eyes in sight, I unleashed a burst of energy, severely burning her to a crisp, leaving her at death's door.
I repeated it over. And over. And over again. Eventually she broke down, and from there, it was simple building her back up under my thumb.
On my right, was Charlotte, my secretary, and Artemis.
I was standing at the front as the Chief Executive Officer, Chief Financial Officer, and Chief Technology Officer.
"Let's get started," I said. "Piotr, Dankus, bring them in."
Piotr walked in holding a 40-inch CRT television that weigh almost 100kg. Slightly struggling, he placed it on my left with a loud thud.
On my right, Dankus placed a 70-inch flat screen television.
"Ladies, and – uh, well, ladies, to my left, we have the current television. This behemoth weighs almost 100kg and is a struggle for anyone to move. Other than looking absolutely hideous, it costs around $2000."
Gesturing to my left I said, "On my right, we have the Apollo flat-screen television. Not only does it provide a larger field of view with higher resolution, but it is also sleek, light, and cheaper at only $600.
Practical uses not only include for watching television channels but can be connected to one's computer or phone using a USB C cable and/or adapter to play movies or shows on the big screen. Simply put, it significantly improves the home theatre experience which will lead to more people watching movies at home than at the theatre."
There was a lot of nodding and murmurs of agreement. Assuming there were no questions, I moved on. I placed the flat screen on a table behind me, plugged it into an outlet, and connected it with my phone.
On the big screen, a white simple page with an image of the word 'Google' appeared. Looking closely, I saw some notice a textbox underneath.
"This is Google, my newly created search engine. Currently, our users must type in the URL to visit most websites, a tedious and cumbersome task that can easily go wrong. By typing into the search bar, users can easily find whatever website they're looking for, as well as explore the internet far more conveniently."
"How does this generate revenue?" Olivia asked, getting ready to take notes.
"Two main ways: firstly, organizations can pay us to have their pages show up ahead of others. We can also sell consumer data to companies so they can better target their advertisements."
There was an awkward pause as people digested what I told them. Then Madison slowly raised her hand and asked what everyone was thinking.
"Isn't that a violation of privacy or something?" she asked.
"Perhaps," I agreed. "The law on this stuff is practically non-existent. So, until Congress makes a law that says its illegal, I think its legal. After all, we already do this with YouTube, and no one said anything about it."
Everyone sort of just shrugged.
"Okay… moving on, we have sequels to a bunch of our releases from last year. The Maze Runner, the Hunger Games, and Game of Thrones are all getting second books. Pokémon and Full Metal Alchemist's second season will be released as well.
Since the Promised Neverland and Death Note aren't getting a second season, we'll be premiering two more anime this year: Stars Align and Classroom of the Elite."
"Which ones are these again?" Artemis whispered to Charlotte.
"Stars Align is the Tennis anime we saw last week," she responded, "and Classroom of the Elite –"
"is about the seemingly unremarkable and introverted student, who's actually hella OP." I finished.
Classroom of the Elite was actually one of my most favorite light novel series. The setting was a school where competition, manipulation, and sheer ruthlessness determined the outcome. It was basically House of Cards, except at a school.
The main character, Kiyotaka Ayanokoji was the guy pulling all the strings behind the scenes as we (the audience) cheered him on. He was intelligent, strong, mysterious, and absolutely ruthless. Guys wanted to be him, and girls wanted to be with him.
"An anime about school?" Emily thought out loud, "Sounds kinda boring."
Due to time constraints, she hadn't had time to sit down and watch the show.
"Trust me, people are going to love school-centric animes." I confidently stated. "For those that are younger, it's seen as the most exciting time of one's lives. For those in high school, they suffer as they wish for something better. And for the rest, it was the highlight of their lives."
"How would you even know?" Olivia asked annoyingly, clearly trying to forget her high school life. "You haven't even been to high school."
Ah, right. She didn't know I was a reincarnator. And she never will.
"And I never will. I'm way too smart for school." I answered back. "But the sentiment is pretty obvious when you hear people reminiscing."
"Anyway, the anime'll be great." I took steps to ensure this. In my past life, there was a 5-year gap between the release of the first two seasons, which disrupted the continuity of the story. Not only that, but the visual quality of the second season clearly took a step back. "I've already scheduled 4 seasons of 24 episodes. We just need to do the voice acting for the other 3 seasons."
I gave everyone a thumbs up. Nobody looked confident. I suppose they'll just have to see it to believe it.
"Moving on, I'm happy to report that the Little Mermaid has had over 70 million views so far. Due to this great success, I think we should continue making similar movies. We'll release Aladdin this year, and Beauty and the Beast next year. I take it that you've all read the scripts?"
Each of them nodded their head in agreement.
"Brilliant. Now, for the grand finale, we have the game of the year!"
I brought out my laptop and a mouse before attaching them to the computer. I then opened a game called Minecraft. Not saying a word, I spawned into the world and started digging.
For five minutes, no one said a word. This was enough time for me to build an elementary house to protect myself from zombies and creepers.
"Uh, Apollo?" Olivia asked, "Is this the new game?"
"Uh huh."
"What's with the low-quality graphics?" I heard someone ask.
"The game isn't about the graphics quality. Minecraft is about endless exploration, mining, and building to survive. The creativity and freedom provided in the game, combined with the fact that you can do so with mods and other people, will make this game the most played in all time!"
It was currently nighttime in the game. Due to the dark screen, I was able to get a look at the others behind me. The girls were just looking at each other before looking back at me. Each one appeared to want to say something, only to decide against it.
Finally, Olivia decided to speak. "You think people will want to play a game where they are endlessly mine and build things?"
I snorted. "The children yearn for the mines. This game will prove it."
.
.
.
AN: Agree? Disagree? I think the answer is clear. The children yearn for the mines.
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