Shō Kōkei leaned back, eyes gleaming. "Since you're that good at making money, why not take over the Royal Investment Bureau?"
"I can," Shō Unkai answered, "but aren't you afraid I might lose everything?"
"You turned one hundred million into more than ten billion. That's proof enough. And even if you lost, the family can afford it."
The king spoke with utter confidence.As Shinhan's largest landowner, the house owned vast properties in Hong Kong, Peng City, the Magic City, Yan Capital, and New York. Even a disaster in the markets could be cushioned by those holdings, not to mention the acres of domestic land.
Besides, Kōkei trusted his eldest. Worst-case, any loss would be steep tuition for the future monarch.
Few outsiders knew the truth: the palace held a massive dollar reserve in Hong Kong and Swiss accounts—profits harvested during the Asian financial crisis and the dot-com crash. Shinhan's GDP per capita hovered around five thousand dollars, yet the royal family was obscenely rich.
With his father's blessing, Unkai accepted the bureau. Many palace positions were already at their peaks; he had planned to persuade the king to sell anyway. Now he could handle it personally—and he aimed to multiply those assets tenfold.
Kōkei's eyes narrowed with curiosity. "You studied several years in Yan Capital; you must have ideas. How should Shinhan develop next?"
"Father, I pondered that question on the flight."He folded his arms. "Our population is tiny, our industrial base thin, and our location inferior to Lion City. We cannot beat Annam's cheaper labor in manufacturing, so we should focus on tourism, stealing business from Siam."
"Tourism?" Kōkei raised a brow. Shinhan's economy leaned on agriculture, fishing, and chip fabrication—thanks to early stakes in Intel, Dell, TSMC, and Samsung that lured their Southeast Asian fabs here.
Unkai explained. "We have hundreds of gorgeous islands and Mount Kinabalu, the tallest peak in the region. Phuket, Bali, even the Maldives pull in billions a year. Shinhan has greater potential."
He placed fresh data on the table. Dragon Kingdom's outbound travel had hit fifty million people a year, spending over one hundred billion dollars. "We share language roots with them. If we upgrade infrastructure, Shinhan will outshine Java, Siam, and Malaya. Even a ten-percent slice is ten billion in revenue—over eleven percent of our GDP."
He added his own pledge: "I plan to invest ten billion dollars of my own in hotels, theme parks, and island resorts."
Manufacturing held little advantage; high-value sectors—pharma, semiconductors, drones, smartphones—were the true targets, alongside games. "Honor of Kings alone earns more than hundreds of listed companies," he noted.
Kōkei mulled the logic. The numbers dazzled him. "If you believe in tourism, how will you lure Dragon Kingdom travelers from Siam and Java?"
"Three steps," Unkai said, counting on his fingers. "One, after we finish the roads and airports, implement mutual visa-free stays of fourteen days. Two, blitz online promotion— I already hold stakes in several Dragon Kingdom web portals. We'll pay bloggers to write travelogues and push them with adverts. Three, invite Dragon Kingdom celebrities to vacation here and post photo essays."
The king found himself nodding. All three points felt achievable."Very well. From tomorrow I will appoint you Deputy Prime Minister, in charge of tourism and transport."
Unkai's heart leapt—the title formally named him Crown Prince. First in line could be changed, but Crown Prince was rarely revoked; only the king outranked it.
No ambitious man refused power.