I Became A Hidden Powerhouse Of The British Empire [EN]: Chapter 534

< Blind Date >

“Yes, it’s time for you to settle down seriously. How long are you going to keep flitting from one woman to another? Don’t forget that you are the heir to Asia’s largest corporation and a member of the royal family.”

No sooner had I parted ways with Edward IX than a call came from Hanseong [Seoul], as if they’d been eavesdropping.

No matter how deeply British culture has penetrated, Asia is still Asia.

In fact, it’s not just Asia; what father would be happy to see his heir, who is supposed to take over the family business, running around meeting women indiscriminately?

But as someone with almost no memory of that, I felt wronged and wanted to jump up and down in frustration.

I mean, this body was automatically searching to rekindle past lives, so what was I supposed to do?

“From what I’ve gathered, she’s a very promising match. AI is currently emerging as a core future business for the James Killian Group, isn’t it? Being the daughter of the founder is worth establishing a relationship.”

“…Even so, there’s no guarantee that the daughter will continue to do well.”

“That daughter is also an excellent AI developer. She’s highly regarded in academia as a young genius, so why not give it a try?”

Well, if she’s as beautiful as a celebrity and talented too?

“But even if things go well between us, she’s still part of the James Killian Group, right? I don’t think we’ll be able to absorb them into our side.”

“Even if we don’t absorb them, it’s possible to create synergy. After all, you know that nothing can be done in the AI industry without our semiconductors, right? And from our perspective, they will continue to be a top-tier customer, so wouldn’t it be good to become one family?”

“You’re not seriously telling me to get married, are you?”

“Of course, I have no intention of forcing you if you don’t want to. But I’m telling you to at least meet her with a positive attitude. She’s 100 times better than the women you’ve been meeting all this time.”

“…I’m trying to change a bit now. I’ll meet her once, but I hope you won’t interfere with what happens after that. Of course, I’ll stop messing around with other women, so don’t worry.”

I don’t know what my image has been like until now, but when I said I was going to live quietly, the voice on the other end of the smartphone went silent for a moment.

And look at the disbelieving voice that came out belatedly.

‘Did this guy get into an accident and break something?’ Am I really that person’s son?

Seriously, how passionately did Hyun-seok meet women?

“Ah~ I think I’m still adjusting to the time difference, so I’m going to go to sleep now. Let’s talk again next time.”

“What? I know it’s afternoon in London right now…!”

Click.

Whether it’s now or then, parents with children of marriageable age are all like that, aren’t they?

Adelaide, you should have been really grateful that I wasn’t that overbearing.

* * *

The phone call was over, but the schedule wasn’t.

To be more precise, Chairman Lee Jang-woo’s offensive, my father, had not ended.

“Vice President! Here’s the information about the person you’re going to meet this time.”

“What? Do I have to review all this too?”

“Of course. The Chairman has very high expectations for this meeting. His Majesty Edward IX is also actively supporting it.”

This is really something. But when you think about it, it’s probably not just us making a fuss like this.

The woman’s side is probably receiving and analyzing data with my personal information written all over it.

Or rather, I should assume that’s exactly what’s happening.

“Their business performance is no joke.”

“Yes. When it comes to large language models (LLM) [AI algorithms that can generate human-like text], there’s no place that can keep up with them right now.”

“…If technological advancements are this fast, the social structure itself could change.”

“The Chairman is also concerned about that. That’s why he thinks it’s even more necessary to embrace a leading company in the AI field.”

“I see. If we know exactly how fast the development is, it will be easier to deal with.”

In this world, mass layoffs due to AI were already a reality.

AI models that could perfectly replace not only fields like drawing or novels but also simple office tasks had already been released.

However, major powers such as the British Empire, the United States, and the Joseon Empire [Korea under royal rule] were preparing various countermeasures, worried about the rapid decline in jobs.

Of course, AL Group, which maintained its position as the world’s second-largest company in terms of market capitalization, could not be free from this problem.

The biggest party involved was the James Killian Group, which had a string of big tech companies, but we also had those big tech companies as VIP customers.

“It’s the same old headache in any era. Sigh, well, let’s spread the word around the neighborhood that I’m going to meet her with a good attitude.”

I scanned the paper with a picture of a brightly smiling woman.

She’s definitely pretty…

Let’s see, her name is Victoria Amelia Rockefeller?

Ah, she’s from the James Group, so she’s from the Rockefeller family?

Unlike the original history, where they were hit hard by antitrust laws, the current Rockefeller affiliates are still a giant energy company that dominates the US oil market.

But that’s the story of the main family, and this person has inherited a lot of family wealth, but she doesn’t have much management control, so she’s from a branch family.

So, they tried to pioneer other fields that had nothing to do with the main family’s work with their own abilities, and that was AI-related work, so it can be said that they are a great family in their own right.

-Amelia Rockefeller: She has a gentle personality and a very good reputation among the people around her, but when she gets serious, she has a firm side.

She has been patient since she was a child, very mature unlike her peers, and has leadership skills.

Even though she was designated as the successor to the company early on, there are no complaints from the people around her thanks to her excellent leadership, and some say that if she had gone into politics, she could have been the first female president in American history.

This is what you call a perfect daughter.

I can feel just by looking at her profile that the chairman in Hanseong wasn’t drooling and telling me to meet her for no reason.

However, if she’s such a successful person, even if things go well, she’ll never *be on my side*, right?

I was a little worried, but I don’t know if it’s because of Killian’s personality or Lee Hyun-seok’s natural physical reaction that I felt a strange interest.

Whatever it is, I’ll be able to get a sense of it once I meet her.

Haa… a blind date after 90 years. The world is a long place to live.

* * *

With the expectations of many people, I finally met the day of destiny.

Today, I didn’t bring any escorts or even a driver to avoid being disturbed by anyone.

In the first place, there’s no way I’d be foolish enough to bring a limousine to the middle of this narrow London city center.

Unlike London, there was not much wind and the sky was clear itself.

There was no news of rain at all, so it was the best day for a date.

I also told them that the first meeting place should be where they wanted to see it, in the sense that I was *accommodating* them.

So, what kind of place did the rare *tech-savvy heiress* of a large company *choose* as the place?