CH 15

Now then, as for what changes happened after Hiroki’s waste management, which was only his personal business, steps up to a Venture Company with the cooperation of a university……

He decided on a company name.

He ordered a new set of business cards.

He bought a new suit.

He bought a Mercedes Benz (which he tagged under company expenses).

He had a website made.

He had created an account on various social media sites.

He had also written and stamped various documents.

Hiroki’s “to-do list” became so filled with the blackness of ink that he had to do a lot of extra work, but the way his business works didn’t particularly change.

[Well…… It’s not like things are going to change anytime soon.]

Indeed, the public appearance of his business may have improved, but the situation remained the same, with the only activity that generates money being Hiroki’s job of throwing garbage down the hole.

The company is still registered at Hiroki’s home, and no progress has been made in acquiring the surrounding properties.

Since it’s a company though, he would need a name appropriate to one.

Thus, the company has been named as Mass Clean Technology Black Hole (MCTBH) Inc.

A name telling the public that they’re a company that would clean up everything.

Since all waste is thrown in the hole, they would certainly clean up those that you may not want to be disposed of, so the name isn’t necessarily wrong.

As for the employees, he had asked Ishida’s group to join the company, namely as the researchers.

Hiroki had no other contacts in the university, and above all, he found recruiting people as too much of a hassle.

Salesmen who called themselves “agents” came to peddle their skills, but he drove them out because they want high margins even when they were all just spouting random nonsense.

Rather than deal with such people, even though he isn’t trustworthy, he would rather make use of Ishida, though that is while keeping an eye on him.

Besides, since his company is known to the public as “a Technology Venture Company that makes full use of the latest technology to tackle global environmental problems”, it’s natural that he would accept personnel from a university.

Of course, he would properly pay them salaries.

[……You’re paying us this much?]

[It’s a salary commensurate with the amount of work you will do. I will have you working for me from now on after all.]

He will give money to these people who want it. That way, there would be less chance of betrayal from them.

Ishida, who had been restrained by the contract and recorded data, became quiet after Hiroki crushed a considerably large piece of concrete in front of him.

Though perhaps, the fact that Hiroki got hold of information about him and his family from his residence card and driver’s license when he was asked to submit his CV for employment may have had an indirect influence on his mindset.

Hiroki understands that normal business owners would do the same when hiring employees, but thinking about it again, such an act would allow the employers to have a firm grasp of their employees’ personal information.

As is often the case with Venture Companies and startups, Hiroki’s company was entirely self-financed.

Of course, considering what Ishida had done, he did not hand over any shares to the university.

He had no intention of handing management control to such people.

The university side was insistent to acquire at least the non-voting shares…… but Hiroki refused.

As a result, the dispatched personnel were only limited to those he could designate, and he was also responsible for their salaries.

Hiroki took another look at the list of things that had happened so far.

He paid for the capital himself.

He owns the technology.

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He also gets the work himself.

He also pays the salaries of his staff with his own money.

[……Can I seriously call this a University-Launched Venture Company?]

[You can use the University’s name, so I suppose so……]

[Hmmm…… Yeah, but putting aside if we’re talking about University of Tokyo……]

So far, Hiroki has not received any benefits beyond the mere lending of their name.

“Well, I guess that’s just how things would go”, Hiroki thought.

Even though they may be University-Launched Venture Company in name, there are many of such companies with high degree of purity in staff, with university professors serving as presidents and directors, as well as companies that merely rent space and names.

Which meant the influence of the university to his company is one of the thinnest.

If universities had the know-how to make companies grow rapidly, the world would have been filled with companies that originated at universities, so Hiroki just decided not to worry about it.

★　★　★　★　★

However, once one becomes a company, it’s inevitable that problems will come their way.

[And so, I think we would need capital investment.]

[Capital investment huh……]

When the company was transformed from a sole proprietorship to a company, it was decided to hire a licensed tax accountant to keep the books in order.

It seems that the tax accountant industry is also having a hard time finding enough people, so Hiroki was able to hire a young and talented person.

When he was asked to look over the books, he discovered something very serious.

[President, if things continue as they are, your taxes for next year will be very high.]

[I- Is that so?]

Because he was making too much profit, he would end up needing to pay a crazy amount of corporate tax.

Hiroki had been running an unprofitable recycling shop until last year, so he didn’t really understand what tax accountant meant.

[……Well, with the structure of the business being this profitable, I guess it can’t be helped.]

After all, his company is an amazing zero-cost business.

Zero transportation costs, zero equipment rental costs, zero inventory storage costs, zero waste disposal costs…… He had achieved zero emissions at zero cost.

It’s an Ultimate Eco-Friendly Company.

[However, you will be expanding your clientele to include major corporations in the future, right?]

[That’s right. We can no longer meet the demand for waste treatment from small and medium-sized businesses in neighboring prefectures after all.]

This was all because his company has been collecting waste at a stupidly low price.

His actions had apparently adversely affected the other waste disposal companies.

[If that is the case, as part of our capital investment, we need to install sensors in the surrounding area and establish an inspection system as a first step. We would also need to  be able to bring out reports on a regular basis.]

Ishida, who had knowledge of how they can make use of capital investment, spoke.

[I suppose so. You can do whatever you want regarding those.]

Ishida and his group have the important task of continuing to produce dummy data that can be used by large companies, so now is not the time to spare any funds.

[And so, we’ll develop as many business partners as we can……]

Collect as much garbage as possible and throw them in the hole.

That is the hidden mission of this company.

★　★　★　★　★

Once the meeting at the office was over, Hiroki continued to throw large amounts of waste into the hole with a large shovel at an almost inhuman speed.

Although a dump truck can roughly be used to transport the waste to the hole using the conveyor belt, it’s still necessary to have someone adjust at the last part for the time being.

[What? Are you happy?]

Suddenly, for some reason, the black hole seemed to tremble a little.