A Wall Street Genius's Final Investment Playbook-Chapter 300: Side Story, The Marquis (6)

On the way back home. Rupert immediately called his people together. But when he opened the door to his study, only one man was waiting for him.

“What did you summon me for?”

It was his right-hand man, Harold. Seeing him standing alone in the middle of the vast study, Rupert grumbled.

“Only you came?”

“Huh? Was I supposed to bring someone else…?”

“…No.”

Just a few months ago, two of them would have rushed in together at times like this. That was Patricia, his left hand.

‘She did her job well.’

Quick-witted and easy to manipulate. All he had to do was stoke her competitive spirit with words like, ‘If you outperform Harold, you’ll get a key position too.’ But now she was gone. Poached by Ha Si-heon, she had become none other than the director of the Delphi Institute. The Delphi Institute, now advising world leaders as equals, had risen to a status far beyond a mere think tank! He had tried calling her several times since, but she wouldn’t even answer Rupert’s calls.

“Ungrateful wretch! After everything I’ve done for her…”

It wasn’t an easy thing to install some distant middle-aged relative in powerful positions here and there! But getting angry now was useless. In moments like this, he had no choice but to make use of Harold.

‘Anyway, this guy is more useful now.’

Harold was the chairman of the Marquis Foundation. Because he was unreliable, Rupert hadn’t let him get involved in business directly—only put him in a hollow, ceremonial position far removed from real work. But unintentionally, that turned out to be a role quite useful for this matter.

“Find out what Rachel has been up to lately!”

The nonprofit Rachel had recently founded was under the Marquis Foundation. In other words, within this structure, Harold could be considered her direct superior.

But—

“Rachel? Why her…?”

Harold just tilted his head in confusion. He clearly didn’t understand a thing. From his perspective, Rachel was far from the center of the Marquis family’s power, someone nobody cared about. So when he was suddenly told to investigate her, of course he looked baffled. Rupert grew frustrated and raised his voice.

“Why, you ask…?! Rachel is that bastard’s weakness! Do I have to explain everything myself?”

“Oh! You mean Gerard.”

Finally realizing, Harold nodded.

‘This blockhead…’

Still, Rupert continued with his calculations. Though Gerard didn’t show it openly, he doted on his sister. If she could be used—maybe he could rein in that arrogant brat again.

“Rachel is up to something. I’m sure she’s moving behind your back and hiding something. Find out what it is!”

“Yes, sir! I’ll investigate right away!”

So Harold went into action. First, he headed for the Marquis Foundation offices. The chairman’s office was on the very top floor of the building, and Rachel’s <Art Nest> office was located just one floor below.

“Uh… excuse me, who are you…?”

Harold walked in. An employee looked at him curiously. And it was no wonder—though it had been quite some time since the office opened, this was Harold’s first time ever showing up in person. Naturally, the staff didn’t recognize him, but their ignorance only irritated him further.

“You don’t even recognize your superior? I’m the chairman!”

“Are you… acquainted with Director Rachel?”

“I told you—I’m the chairman of this foundation! That means I outrank her, you fool!”

To think they didn’t even know such a basic fact! It was both a problem of work attitude and poor employee training. But since he needed information, he refrained from lashing out further. The employees, still puzzled, replied.

“If you’re here to see Director Rachel, I’m afraid she’s currently away on a personal trip.”

“Oh, is that so? Well, that’s fine. I didn’t come to see her anyway…”

“Pardon?”

“Hasn’t anything strange or troubling happened recently?”

“Strange or troubling, you mean…?”

“I mean anything unusual! Something that didn’t add up!”

He thought flaunting authority would make the information flow freely. But the employees only looked awkward.

“Well, Director Rachel isn’t the type to hide things. If nothing has been reported up the chain, it’s probably just a plan that hasn’t been finalized yet.”

In the end, his direct questioning strategy failed. Harold began to consider another approach.

“Then… is there some way to check on the computer?”

He didn’t know much about the system, but luckily his secretary helped.

“All organizations under the foundation are managed through a central server. And you, Chairman, have oversight access to all branches for auditing purposes. You should be able to look it up.”

“Is… that so?”

He had never once used that authority before. But after having an IT staffer connect him to the server, Harold was able to access all sorts of Rachel’s files. And finally, he found one that stood out.

<Marquis New Year’s Gala – Guest List>

It was the list of guests Rachel had personally invited to the upcoming gala. Harold’s eyes gleamed as he read it.

“Got it!”

He rushed back to Rupert and reported what he had just discovered.

“Rachel… is planning to invite obscure, no-name people to the gala! Some nobodies—like small business owners no one’s ever heard of!”

Hearing this, a sinister smile spread across Rupert’s face.

“To bring in… such lowly rabble to that stage?”

What kind of event was the Marquis New Year’s Gala? Barely fifty guests at most. Closed off from the press, a sanctum reserved only for the true elite! And she dared to bring in common trash with no pedigree?

“This isn’t some accidental mistake. It’s Rachel’s stubbornness.”

Rachel had always been a girl who forgot her station, clinging to foolish ideals like ‘all people are equal.’ She was clearly inviting them deliberately, despite knowing the consequences.

“No doubt it’s that ridiculous egalitarian delusion of hers.”

But that wasn’t the main point. The crucial thing was that Gerard already knew all about this! That was why he had called so frantically—to somehow stop Rachel! But judging from his flustered behavior, it seemed he hadn’t succeeded in persuading her yet.

“Of course.”

He was oddly gentle where Rachel was concerned. Anyway. When he finally thought he had found Gerard’s weak spot, Rupert smiled with satisfaction. Now it was time to put it to use.

“I’ll be stepping out for a bit.”

“Huh? Now? Th-then… I’ll come with you!”

Harold stood up out of habit and grabbed his coat, but Rupert waved him off firmly.

“No, you stay here. You’re going to meet Desmond.”

“Desmond?”

Desmond. He was Gerard’s younger uncle and a brother with whom Rupert had an extremely bad relationship.

“Why Desmond…?”

Harold looked bewildered, and a lecherous smile spread across Rupert’s face.

“To teach that insolent bastard how important I am, I’ll have to manufacture a real crisis.”

However, when Rupert went straight to Desmond’s estate, Desmond wasn’t there. When asked where he had gone, they said he was at a winter ski lodge. A remote mountain lodge three hours away over treacherous mountain roads.

“When will he return?”

“He’s expected to come back next week.”

“Tch.”

That was far too late. Cursing under his breath, Rupert told the driver to head for the lodge. As if on cue, the snow came down, and what should have been a three-hour trip stretched well past five. After numerous setbacks, they finally reached the lodge.

“Mr. Rupert?”

The steward recognized Rupert and looked surprised. Rupert expected to be led straight in, but they left him waiting at the door like any other visitor and only escorted him after getting Desmond’s permission. Worse, they led him into a cold reception room instead of a warm parlor. Desmond, who had been sipping wine by the fireplace, slowly raised his gaze and looked at him.

“What brings you here?”

He cut straight to the point from the first line. Rupert deliberately shrugged his shoulders and put on an air of easy indifference.

“Can’t brothers at least exchange pleasantries?”

“You came all this way just for pleasantries?”

Desmond looked incredulous, but Rupert seemed not to notice why. Desmond pursed his lips and clicked his tongue inwardly.

‘Pathetic.’

This lodge wasn’t a place you just dropped by on a whim. So coming all the way out to this isolated snowy mountain meant there was an actual purpose. And the very fact that he’d appeared there signaled that this was something urgent. No matter how calm he pretended to be, his presence alone exposed his intent. Yet Rupert fumbled through a clumsy performance of social grace he couldn’t pull off.

‘No surprise there.’

Everything had been handed to him for being the eldest son. He’d never had to train himself or grow his intellect, and this was the result. Desmond’s look of contempt landed squarely on Rupert. Still, Rupert, drunk on his own sense of importance, spoke triumphantly.

“Hiding away alone in some mountain valley, you’re bound to miss how the world turns, aren’t you?”

“If you have something to say, don’t beat around the bush.”

“These days the world changes in the blink of an eye, and whoever grabs information first gains power. Sit in your room long enough and important news will come to you naturally. You might have heard some of it.”

For ten minutes Rupert rambled on with bluster before getting to the point.

“Rachel is stubbornly clinging to her peculiar egalitarianism again. And someone is letting it slide. Is it right to leave such a person at the helm of a company?”

Rachel’s actions and Gerard’s willingness to turn a blind eye were useful cards in Rupert’s hand. And the reason Rupert deliberately leaked this precious information to Desmond was clear.

‘A scheme to use him.’

He intended to make Desmond spearhead a motion to remove Gerard. If Desmond pushed the dismissal hard enough, it would lead to an official vote.

But—

‘He’ll vote to defend Gerard in the end.’

That was why Rupert didn’t go himself and put Desmond up front. He planned to cast the ‘oppose dismissal’ vote himself at the ballot. Rupert’s motive was obvious. If he opposed the dismissal at the meeting where he held 30% of the shares? From Gerard’s perspective, Rupert would become “the only shield protecting me.” Even if not that far, Gerard would have to continue courting Rupert’s favor. Through that process, Rupert hoped to make Gerard more compliant.

“How about it? From your position, isn’t this the perfect chance to pull Gerard down? The stage’s all set—you just need to take it.”

“The stage’s all set?”

Desmond scornfully stared at his brother for a long moment, then burst out laughing. The idea sounded fine, but as always, execution was the problem.

“How does Rachel inviting people to the Marquis Foundation gala make the CEO of Marquis Company accountable?”

Even if Rachel caused a scandal, it had nothing to do with Gerard’s official duties. It wouldn’t be grounds to push a CEO dismissal. Rupert snapped back curtly.

“That’s all semantics! You could say, ‘How can someone who can’t even control his family run a company?’”

He planned to shame Gerard as “the guy who can’t even keep his sister in line” and use that as pretext to question his fitness as CEO. Marquis was a family-run private company—usually that sort of sophistry might have worked. But not now.

“Have you forgotten the trust and branch votes are currently in the hands of an outsider?”

Now Ha Si-heon was in the picture. The trust and affiliated branch votes that held 40% of the total vote were moving according to Ha Si-heon’s intentions. And Ha Si-heon would never go along with such flimsy logic.

“He’s the one who put Gerard in the CEO chair in the first place. If you try to cut Gerard out for that kind of absurd reason… do you think he’ll stand idly by?”

Rupert bit his lip and had no answer. Even a fool knew what would happen if Ha Si-heon’s favor were crossed.

“He’s been treated like a national treasure ever since overthrowing three nations. If that man decides to trap us… do we even have a way to stop it?”

“Are you saying… we’ll be too scared of that kid to take this chance?”

Desmond frowned. A heavy silence pressed down on the room. Pushing this through now would be too risky.

But—

‘It’s a chance too valuable to pass up.’

Gerard was surprisingly unassailable in many ways. If possible, they should seize this moment. However, Rupert’s flimsy pretext would never do. They needed to handle it perfectly so Ha Si-heon couldn’t find fault.

‘The method is the problem…’

After thinking hard, Desmond spoke.

“It’s not that there’s no way. If we can nail down the right pretext—”

“Pretext?”

“To dismiss Gerard over this, we need to place Gerard as the ‘person in charge’ of that event where Rachel invited those guests.”

“Then just do that.”

Rupert replied indifferently, feigning ignorance. Desmond exhaled and pushed the idea forward in an irritated voice.

“I mean make Gerard the official person responsible for the New Year’s Gala. Don’t you see what that would imply?”

“...!”

Rupert’s face froze for a moment. Only then did he appear to grasp the weight of the situation.

‘The gala’s responsible party.’

That position wasn’t just about hosting a party. It was a symbolic stage to present the Marquis family’s future in front of outsiders. Having Gerard stand there would be tantamount to declaring him the Marquis successor.

‘What to do…?’

It was an enticing trap. If it worked, it would deal a fatal blow to Gerard’s standing. The problem was the cost of setting the trap. Even if only for a day, it meant officially declaring Gerard the next head of Marquis. And if the operation failed? They’d gain nothing and instead cement Gerard as the official successor.

Was it worth taking that risk…?