"It’s at tis like this I regret not taking the company public," Leo mused, a cold smile playing on his lips. "I can only imagine the glorious freefall of the stock prices if I had. The chaos would have been absolutely srising."
He watched the unfolding madness with the detached amusent of a deity. Because the company remained privately held, the public outcry couldn’t touch its core assets, a fact that was both a blessing and a strategic hurdle for him.
This private status was exactly why the matter of succession had beco such a legal ss. Even with the world screaming for blood, the board of directors couldn’t simply seize the throne.
Without a public market to force a buyout or a hostile takeover, the empire was locked behind a gate that only a blood descendant could open.
Since Leo had no heirs, the board was left in a state of limbo, forced to manage the company indirectly while pretending to search for a bloodline mber.
"Reo is officially dead," Leo mumbled in the empty room, "but my true self is rely ’missing.’ They’ll use that ambiguity to keep their grip on the wheel for as long as they can. But let them. I’ve already achieved what I set out to do."
He had intentionally left the door to his return slightly open. If he ever chose to resurface as Leo Vanderlen, the path was cleared. But for now, he preferred the shadows.
"Now that the board is settled," he said, "Shall we move on to the beginning of the end?"
He leaned back into the plush leather of the captain’s chair. He had seen enough of the fire he’d started; now, it was ti to ensure the embers burned exactly where he wanted them.
The next phase of his plan required sothing bigger. He needed to inflict massive, crippling losses on his own empire without leaving a fingerprint.
He considered the explosive tactics he had used against his rivals, like controlled demolitions and physical sabotage, but quickly discarded the thought.
A ship silently turned around, without being detected by the massive fleet that was guardian of the earth. As for its next destination, no one knew exactly.
anwhile, the earth was still as chaotic as ever. After an entire day and night, the board eting finally ca to an end.
Under Piccolo’s persuasion and madness, the board mbers finally accepted that they were going to tell the truth.
Hence, a press conference was held outside the eting place. It was also one that beca the most watched press conference on earth, even more than Leo’s declaration of takeover of earth.
Piccolo was the person who stepped forward and accepted that Reo Vanderlen, the new heir of Alpha Corporation was dead.
He also knew that Leo and Reo were the sa people, but with different nas. It was just that the public didn’t know about it.
At least that was still kept a secret. With hesitation, Piccolo wanted to say sothing but the representative of Alpha Bank stepped forward and took the mic.
He accepted that the CEO of Alpha Corporation was dead, but he also expressly claid that people didn’t need to be scared. He claid that they were going to search for the next bloodline descendant of the Vanderlen Family.
In the anti, the company was going to run and advance as it always had been.
His statent was ant to calm down the public, but it wasn’t as effective as he had thought. Still, he didn’t believe that this small hurdle could affect his company’s trajectory as much as people believed.
He also claid that he supported the referendum that was suggested by politicians, not wanting to appear greedy.
He tried to co across as friendly, and stated that even if people rejected the proposal and were still controlled by Alpha Corporation, the company was going to do everything in their power to protect earth for eternity and that there was going to be no change.
It was clear that he wanted the company to hold reins over earth. After all, it wasn’t just about controlling a small planet. It was about the legitimacy that ca with being a mber of the Galactic Union, supported by the public.
Deep down, he really hoped that the public was going to make the referendum fail. He was also thinking about using money secretly to manipulate people and make them vote against the elections.
It was an indirect fight between the politicians and the Alpha Corporation.
After the press conference had ended, the board mbers left. However, they promised each other that they were going to stay in contact to navigate this chaotic waters.
....
One week later...
The last week was very eventful. First, the Hero Tower had already declared their independence from the Alpha Corp, claiming that their promise was to the Vanderlens, and until a rightful bloodline heir was found, they weren’t going to work for the Alpha Corp.
Although they still maintained a professional relationship, it wasn’t as close as it used to be.
In that one week, money was spent like water. The promotions were in full swing, and politicians were giving speeches all over the place, asking for change.
Finally, it was the day of the referendum, one where almost every single person on earth was allowed to vote.
On a different planet, the current leader of Alpha Bank was watching with intent eyes as the voting was completed, and it was ti for the calculation of votes.
"Do you think we are going to win?" he asked a follower behind him.
"We have spent so much money, and we also enjoy the previous goodwill from the people. We will definitely win, My Lord. And after that, we will be unshakable!"
"I hope so. Because if we can’t stop this, then it would be a big loss."
The next day, the calculation was on full swing, and province wise results were being announced.
At the start, it looked like the Alpha Corp’s side was in advantage as they won province after province in support.
Unfortunately, in the later stages, and the less advanced economies, the situation had turned upside down. After all, the penetration of Alpha Corp in that region wasn’t as strong.
Finally, the results ca out late at night, and the current leader of the Alpha Corp couldn’t help but curse out loud.
It was wrong to say that it wasn’t close, but so what? It didn’t matter how many provinces supported them. If they didn’t have an absolute majority, it ant they had failed.
Just like that, all dia channels announced that the referendum had passed, and Alpha Corp was no longer going to be the Overlord of earth, at least not legally.
With that, the politicians ca forward, giving victory speeches, and also announced the dates of actual elections now that they had gained freedom.
Alpha Corp had lost, also partially because they only thought about using money, and not about how corrupt people on earth could actually be.
They only thought about winning people’s support, not realising that the politicians were more cunning, having been in power for a long ti before Leo’s arrival.
Unlike Alpha Corp, they didn’t spend money entirely on winning the trust of the public like Alpha Corp. Instead they spent most of their retirent money on winning the support of officials that were going to count the votes and manipulate the results in their favor.
In the open, the politicians thanked the public. anwhile, in private, they were laughing that their tricks had worked.
Indirectly, Alpha Corp had been kicked out of earth. Even though they could still do business with earth, they weren’t going to get the sa level of influence and control.
"Fuck!" The leader of Alpha Bank slamd the table before him with such force that the entire table shattered before him.
He didn’t stop there, and kept cursing out loud.
While he was in the middle of outrage, a follower knocked on the door.
The giant cald down and took a deep breath, saying, "Co inside."
A young woman stepped inside, appearing pale as a sheet of paper.
"What happened?" The giant who was dressed in a professional attire adjusted his tie and asked.
"T-there is bad news..." The woman said, as if she was still hesitating about how to handle this situation.
"What bad news?"
"I was calculating our finances, and just realized... We are running out of money..." She exclaid, feeling her throat go dry.
The Alpha Bank didn’t have a proper business model after all. The one reason that they were able to keep going was because of the massive funding they occasionally received from Leo, which was often used for loans.
Since they didn’t change any interest or collateral on the loan, they didn’t really gain much benefit from this business.
And after spending money on earth like water, whatever was left was also gone. The bank... was bankrupt?
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