NOVEL WEB Chapter 16: Just Desserts
Having the title of “University-Launched Venture Company” comes in handy in many ways, and Ishida has been using his contacts to collect various kinds of waste from related organizations on and off-campus.
Since this is nominally an “experiment to test the operations of a new facility”, they were rather accommodating.
As many people come and go to the premises, the university also produces a wide variety of waste.
The large amounts of papers used in the office, cans and containers from students eating and drinking, broken computers and air conditioners, pruned leaves and branches from trees and shrubberies within the school, and broken equipment and chemicals from the science department……
He has been taking those things back to the company under the guise of experiments.
As for the university, they were apparently very pleased with the cost savings.
Upon noticing his actions, he had been interviewed by a reporter from a local newspaper, asking him “Why are you doing this?”, to which he replied:
[We need to contribute to the local community and build a track record of waste management using our new technology.]
Ishida’s publicly attractive and exemplary response was reported in a small article.
[That’s just an excuse on the surface. In reality, it’s just acting to generate dummy data on how much power is consumed for which types of waste, and what kind of processed waste would be taken out.]
[But if you throw it in a hole, there’s no power consumption and no processed waste.]
[We can’t bring data like that out to the public. If we don’t consume power, even if we have a dummy plant, it will raise suspicion, and if no processed waste was brought out, it will raise suspicion as to where the mass brought in has gone. After all, nature would normally follow the law of conservation of mass.]
[So that’s how it is.]
[Yes. And so, we are now working on a theory and the production of a dummy technology plant to cover the fact that processed waste unnaturally doesn’t come out. We have to go very carefully to avoid any inconsistencies here.]
[I see.]
Ishida’s words were as difficult as ever to understand, but in short, he seems to be in the process of making up the theory and technology so that the phenomenon of throwing everything into a hole and making everything disappear will not be noticed.
[The Human world sure is a troublesome place, isn’t it? I’ll leave those things to you.]
[……? Y- Yes! I’ll make up the most elaborate data so that the other scholars won’t meddle!]
It is unknown if the considerable amount of money being paid to him is helping, but Ishida seems to be motivated in his own way.
He knows that Ishida sometimes secretly researches the hole, but Hiroki himself doesn’t know about them. However, as long as he doesn’t inform the world about the existence of the hole to the world and wouldn’t take the hole away from him, Hiroki is willing to let him off the hook for now.
If he really wants to have the world know about the hole, Hiroki intends to have him research it up close and personal. Within the hole, that is.
Hiroki thought this would be a period of just steadily building a foothold for a year or two, but then, something happened.
A large fire broke out in the city center, killing and injuring many people.
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[Ohh, that’s amazing.]
The TV broadcast showed a fire that broke out in a small building and spread to the surrounding office buildings and restaurants, growing into an uncontrollable blaze.
However, Hiroki thinks that what’s happening over there was other people’s problem.
Fortunately, the university, which is Hiroki’s main customer, seems to be far away from the fire, and moreover, the company is located in a remote area, so there’s no way for him to be exposed to the fire.
The black smoke that can be seen on TV was barely visible from where he’s located.
However, due to the direction of the wind, he could smell the unpleasant stench of burning plastic and other materials, as well as hear the sounds of sirens from fire trucks and ambulances.
Various videos were posted and circulated on social media sites.
Eventually, the large fire was extinguished, lasting until the following night.
However, it seemed that Hiroki was the only one who was thinking that the local fire was someone else’s problem, as on the next day, a large amount of garbage began to be brought into the company.
It seems that the city’s waste disposal plants have been completely paralyzed by the massive amount of disaster waste generated by the unprecedented large fire.
This is why experimental treatment facilities like theirs have been called in to help.
They’re in a situation where they’d accept any useful help available.
[Well, we’ll do it. Please bring as much as you want here.]
After Hiroki said this, they really began to bring in as much as they could.
Several 10-ton dump trucks loaded with burnt building materials and other stuff were lined up outside the company’s premises, and they ended up hurriedly needing to hire student part-timers to help with traffic control.
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Dump trucks were dumping their loads in a heap, which were then loaded onto the conveyor and were steadily being brought towards the hole.
The spilled waste is forcefully gathered with a shovel and thrown into the hole.
The series of operations of throwing the waste into the holes was carried out without pause in a place that couldn’t be seen from the outside, but the piles of waste brought in in large quantities being processed at a wonderful speed became a rumor among the dump truck drivers who brought in those waste.
[If you brought those things to that place, they would deal with them.]
The company had gained such a reputation that not only contractors but also ordinary people began to drive their light trucks to the site of the fire and helped out in bringing the building material waste towards them.
As expected, Hiroki found it troublesome dealing with them but……
[Let’s just do a background check with their driver’s license and push through with the disaster cooperation. Just in case, I’ll report about this to the authorities through my contacts.]
Following Ishida’s advice, the company accepted the waste from the light trucks for a limited period of time.
Although the company did not gain much in terms of money, it was a small price to pay considering it brought an image of a company that contributes to society, in addition to having a proven track record during a disaster.
Even considering other aspects besides management, it’s significant that the company was able to establish a route through which they can throw a large amount of waste down the hole the next time a disaster occurs.
Fortunately, Japan is a country prone to earthquakes, and global warming has increased the possibility of floods occurring.
Hiroki will continue to have no trouble procuring waste to throw into the hole.
[I hope the next disaster comes soon.]
When Hiroki found himself muttering that, the people in the office frowned at him, telling him that saying things like that are inappropriate.
Once the work of throwing the waste was done, there was not much that could be done in terms of management.
As Hiroki absentmindedly watched the news of the fire on the monitor, he found that among the casualties from the fire was that tortoiseshell glasses guy from that finance company back then.
[Heehhh…… So that guy’s name was Kaneda Katsuya huh……]
Hiroki is a man that properly reflects on his actions, so the words “Well, he’s just getting his just desserts” didn’t come out of his mouth.