Ch.284[Episode 284] Tycoon City

Sir Dominic discussed several additional matters with Pedro, then decided to trust him completely.

In fact, Sir Dominic had hired Pedro as something like an estate manager, but even to Sir Dominic’s eyes, Pedro was an extremely capable talent.

The problem was that Pedro was too capable.

Pedro was a person specialized in accounting and human resource utilization.

In particular, he was good at handling people, and employees he encouraged would become unusually loyal to the company.

When Sir Dominic found this strange and asked Pedro about it, Pedro gave an awkward smile as if embarrassed, but said he couldn’t be trusted if he kept secrets and briefly revealed his past.

“Actually, I’m from an island village, Sir. It was a small island in a tropical region, where we could earn quite a bit of money because of the abundant oil. I served as mayor there for a while.”

“I was successfully re-elected five times. That means I served as mayor six times,” Pedro said with an embarrassed smile before returning to work.

Pedro’s competence wasn’t limited to that.

He was very knowledgeable about the company’s internal affairs, knowing everything from accounting and sales to technology, promotion, marketing, and even when to replace toilet paper, water cooler bottles, stapler refills, and instant coffee mix.

Perhaps that’s why?

The business began to grow incredibly smoothly and surprisingly quickly.

It was growing so fast that Sir Dominic’s building was being expanded more rapidly than any other building in the area.

“I have no idea what’s going on here.”

Sir Dominic shook his head in amazement at this remarkable growth.

All of this was due to Pedro’s competence.

Of course, it wasn’t that Pedro had failed to follow Sir Dominic’s instructions.

If Pedro had heard the above comment, he would undoubtedly have felt very wronged.

He gave employees sufficient rest and leisure time as Sir Dominic had said, and handled work unhurriedly without rushing.

Yet the fact that Sir Dominic’s business was doing so well meant that the people of Tycoon City were desperately thirsty for healing.

This farm, just a 2-3 minute walk away or at most 30 minutes away, became a source of vitality in life just by visiting briefly during lunch breaks.

Most surprisingly, all this growth had occurred in less than ten days since Sir Dominic had determined the purpose of this building.

Tycoon City took notice of Sir Dominic’s company, which showed even more remarkable growth than other rapidly growing companies in Tycoon City, and some began to enter similar businesses.

Sir Dominic had suddenly become a celebrity in Tycoon City.

The people of Tycoon City thought:

What is Sir Dominic doing now?

What is the owner of such a remarkably growing company thinking?

…

“…Why has it come to this?”

In the evening as the sunset was fading, Sir Dominic, who had just woken up, let out a complaint like a sigh.

The reason for that sigh was Sir Dominic’s farm.

What had started as a means for healing had now grown too large.

Of course, Sir Dominic had initially enjoyed developing the farm.

The joy of daily growth and a system that rewarded effort certainly provided real fun, even from Sir Dominic’s perspective.

However, Sir Dominic was horrified to suddenly discover himself working for four days without eating or sleeping.

Like other people in Tycoon City, Sir Dominic was becoming addicted to work.

As soon as Sir Dominic realized this fact, he was startled, delegated full authority to Pedro, returned to the inn, and rested for three straight days.

“This place addicts people to work like a drug. At least with Gacha Land’s addiction, there are clear abnormal symptoms, but here they’re addicting people while disguising it as diligence.”

Sir Dominic tried to calm himself by clenching and unclenching his trembling hands.

Withdrawal symptoms had appeared after just a few days of work and rest.

Still, today was somewhat better.

When he first noticed the work addiction symptoms and took a break, he couldn’t even sleep properly, wondering if it was okay to rest like this.

Sir Dominic absently looked at his hands, which had trembled but were now calm, then picked up the newspaper delivered this morning and placed it on a nearby table.

He brewed a cup of coffee, sat down in the chair in front of the table, opened the newspaper, and began to drink his coffee.

He had managed to shake off other things to some extent, but checking the newspaper was something he simply couldn’t give up.

Sir Dominic first looked at the headlines decorating the front page.

The front page of the newspaper, appropriately named Agri.Culture, began with a photo of the Tycoon City Minister of Agriculture’s speech, and surprisingly, stories about Sir Dominic’s farm occupied half of it.

‘Urban Healing Space: Is This Really Okay?’

‘In an Era of 100 Companies per Block, Is a Company’s Different Choice a 1% Loss?’

‘Sir Dominic’s Farm Increases Corporate Efficiency in 8 Nearby Blocks by 11.75%’

The articles mostly described the effects that Sir Dominic’s farm would bring.

Articles about Sir Dominic’s farm were overflowing, with each company publishing one article about it. Interestingly, companies closer to Sir Dominic’s farm gave him more positive evaluations, while those farther away gave harsher assessments.

Sir Dominic closed the newspaper after reading the article titled ‘Sir Dominic Selected as One of Tycoon City’s 100 New Rich.’

Then, holding his still half-full coffee cup, he approached the window and looked at the still-bright night sky.

The lights of Tycoon City, which never went out for 24 hours, illuminated the night sky.

Sir Dominic looked at his farm, which peeked out about two floors higher among those buildings.

The buildings around the farm were working more brightly than other buildings due to the efficiency synergy provided by the farm.

Yet ironically, Sir Dominic’s farm was in the darkest state.

Due to Sir Dominic’s management philosophy… or something similar, employees didn’t need to work overtime forcibly.

Nevertheless, there were some troublemakers who worked overtime without pay because they loved their work too much, but Pedro had reached an agreement to pay them overtime anyway.

…Though it sounds a bit strange, this showed how serious the work addiction symptoms were in Tycoon City.

Sir Dominic looked out the window for a long time.

He carefully observed this ever-developing city where the lights never went out.

Just as Sir Dominic took another sip of coffee.

His phone vibrated.

Sir Dominic put down his coffee and picked up his phone.

It was Pedro.

“Hmm. Pedro. What’s the matter?”

[“I’m sorry to bother you at night. But some issues have become serious, and I thought I should inform you.”]

“?”

Sir Dominic tilted his head at Pedro’s words.

Since he had already given Pedro full authority, Pedro could handle matters on his own without needing Sir Dominic.

Yet saying that Sir Dominic needed to know meant that something truly important or serious had happened at the farm.

“…Tell me.”

Sir Dominic resolved not to be surprised either way.

[“Well, don’t be shocked. Our employees have formed a labor union.”]

“Ah.”

I thought it was something else. Sir Dominic sighed with relief.

Labor union events… no, the formation of a labor union was a common occurrence, wasn’t it?

“If that’s all, you can just leave it be. As long as they don’t cause problems.”

[“Well, a problem has arisen.”]

“?”

Sir Dominic raised his eyebrows as if to ask what that meant.

Sir Dominic wanted to immediately ask what the problem was, but Pedro spoke faster.

[“The union members… they’re… urging us to fix the wage issue and…”]

Pedro seemed troubled about whether to say this, but as if he had no choice, he closed his eyes tightly and exclaimed to Sir Dominic.

[“…they’re working overtime!”]

“…Overtime?”

Sir Dominic couldn’t understand what this meant.

While protesting about wage issues, they were collectively working overtime? What did that mean?

[“I know it’s hard to understand. But it’s true. They’re working overtime over wage issues.”]

“Explain in more detail.”

Sir Dominic asked Pedro for a more detailed explanation to understand this absurd situation.

Pedro realized his explanation was insufficient and described the situation to Sir Dominic in more detail.

[“They’re protesting that their wages are too high compared to the work they’re doing. However, the problem is that paying less than minimum wage would create legal issues… so we’re currently consulting with the legal team.”]

“…?”

Sir Dominic doubted his ears again.

Legal team? When did such a department appear?

Sir Dominic rubbed his face in confusion at this perplexing situation.

“…I should return to Gacha Land.”

It seemed that Tycoon City was not a place to stay for long.