Simon's meeting with Jung So-dong lasted only 15 minutes. Offering a Bank of New York Mellon directorship as an incentive, Simon immediately assigned him the task of investigating the debt situations of Korea's top chaebols. Jung So-dong would remain in North America for just three days to complete the necessary handovers before returning to Asia, where he would temporarily be based in Hong Kong to build his team.
In Asia, others would assist him as needed.
After Jung So-dong left, Simon spent the rest of the day meeting three additional individuals: Choi Yeon-soo, Jung Sang-won, and Jong Jong-ho.
Choi Yeon-soo, like Jung So-dong, was 37 years old, a Korean-American first-generation immigrant, and a graduate of Columbia Business School. He had previously worked at Lehman Brothers.
Jung Sang-won and Jong Jong-ho, on the other hand, hailed directly from South Korea. Both had ties to the recently collapsed Hanbo Group.
Jung Sang-won, 41, had an international background, holding a degree from NYU. Before losing his job due to Hanbo's downfall, he had been an HR executive at the chaebol.
Jong Jong-ho was the only one without international experience. A native of South Korea and a graduate of Seoul National University, the 37-year-old had worked in Hanbo Steel's finance department as a mid-to-senior-level manager. Due to the bankruptcy scandal, he had faced legal troubles, but the Westeros system had used its influence to extricate him.
These four individuals were carefully chosen by Simon for very specific reasons.
First, their expertise collectively covered legal, administrative, HR, and financial domains. This complementarity, combined with their strong foundations and years of professional experience, made them capable of handling significant responsibilities.
Second, all four were over 35, settled with families, and had faced career stagnation. These factors, coupled with their nationalities or international backgrounds, made them more malleable. Even Jong Jong-ho, despite his local roots and compromised past, was easy to control. Unlike younger individuals driven by nationalist pride, these middle-aged professionals were unlikely to resist the idea of aiding the Westeros system in exploiting their own country's opportunities.
Finally, as four Korean faces active among corporate giants in Korea, their presence would not arouse much public suspicion or backlash, provided they operated discreetly.
Simon chose not to meet them all at once to avoid potential complications. For a considerable time, the four would work independently until they proved their reliability. Only then would they be brought together. Should any of them fail the test—whether in competence or loyalty—they would be discarded.
This was just the first batch of Simon's selected "puppets."
There would be more in the future.
The last task of Simon's Monday was related to Titanic.
After over a year of production, the film's budget had ballooned to $200 million and was still not completely finished.
This time, the focus was on the score.
After some involvement from Simon, the film's music was entrusted to its original composer, James Horner. However, due to Simon's influence as the "butterfly," it was unlikely Horner would produce the iconic song that defined the film in its original timeline.
Simon decided to step in directly.
From 3:00 PM to nearly 7:00 PM, Simon worked on the score, sitting through a review of the rough cut and providing feedback based on his memory. He suggested incorporating Scottish bagpipes and brainstorming ideas for a song similar to "My Heart Will Go On."
While he couldn't change the historical fact of Cameron's profligate spending, replacing Kate Winslet with Rachel Weisz had created a fresh and aesthetically pleasing lead pairing.
During this session, Simon also discussed the film's release strategy with Amy, who was present for the screening.
It was decided that Titanic would premiere at the Venice Film Festival later that year.
The original timeline had seen Titanic premiere at the Tokyo International Film Festival in October, closer to the year's end. However, Japanese audiences had not been particularly enthusiastic. This time, Simon opted for Venice in September, reasoning that an earlier premiere would allow time to address any negative feedback before the wide release.
At dusk, Simon returned to Shell Villa in Point Dume. Upon entering the lobby, he saw Janet, Veronica, and Melbourne chatting near the curtain wall.
Walking over, Janet stood up first, followed by Veronica and Melbourne, who had been leaning against her.
"Darling, how was your day?" Janet greeted him with a hug, taking his arm as she explained, "Aunt came back this afternoon. There were some issues with America Online."
Simon nodded slightly, glancing at his son, who was still holding Veronica's hand.
Under his father's gaze, Melbourne quickly let go of NaNa's hand and obediently greeted, "Good evening, Dad."
Simon replied curtly, "Hmm."
The boy immediately added, "Aunt Janet and the others are preparing dinner. I'll go help."
With that, he hurried away.
Janet, observing the father-son interaction, almost burst out laughing. She led Simon to sit down and teased, "You're always so stern with Melbourne. Haven't you noticed he's becoming less close to you?"
"What's the point of a father and son being overly close?"
"…"
Janet nearly rolled her eyes but admitted to herself that he might have a point.
She understood the concept of generational bonds.
For instance, her father had always been strict with her brothers, and while not particularly close to them, he adored Melbourne as his grandson. The same was true of her aunt and Melbourne.
Perhaps it was a family trait.
As Janet pulled Simon to sit down, his mood seemed a bit off. He glanced at her and said, "You two are sitting here relaxing while letting Jennifer prepare dinner alone?"
Since October of last year, Jennifer had been over seven months pregnant.
Janet pouted. "Of course not. Sophia came over this morning. She's in the kitchen helping."
Simon didn't pursue the matter further and turned to Veronica, who was sipping coffee across from him. "What's the issue with AOL?"
The Westeros system's core trio in the internet sector had been under Simon's scrutiny for some time. Among them, Egret was Simon's top priority, with AOL ranked second.
Veronica raised her head slightly and explained, "I've found significant budget overruns in AOL's network infrastructure development over the past few years. Steve Case believes, given the current state of the stock market, it's unwise to probe too deeply, as it might trigger a continued drop in stock prices. Case isn't cooperating, and my team is struggling to proceed."
Although Simon had spent most of the past month overseas, he had closely monitored the Nasdaq's movements.
As of today's close on the East Coast, the Nasdaq, which had been plummeting for over a month, had fallen to a low of 4,353 points. This was a 38% drop from its peak of 7,045 points on March 24, when the bubble burst.
The Nasdaq's $9.3 trillion market cap had shrunk to $5.6 trillion, wiping out $3.7 trillion in stock value in just over a month.
The Westeros system's leading Nasdaq companies—Egret, Cisco, and AOL—had all suffered significant setbacks.
For the sake of stock prices, Simon knew it might be better to avoid drastic moves now. However, his priority was always the long-term growth of the Westeros system.
After some thought, Simon told Veronica, "I'll speak with Steve after dinner." Then, turning to Janet, he added, "Make sure to assign two additional female security teams to her. She must always have at least one group nearby."
Before Janet could respond, Veronica objected, "I don't want so many people following me."
At that moment, Sophia walked in. Simon rose and stated firmly, "It's decided."
Sophia joined them, and the conversation shifted to other topics. As for AOL, the problems there were not unexpected. Simon had been aware of them for years and had largely turned a blind eye, provided the network rollout was completed with quality.
This time, Simon planned to use the issue to tighten finances and eliminate problematic personnel, ensuring the Westeros companies remained disciplined.
After chatting for a while, Jennifer arrived to announce that dinner was ready. Everyone moved to the dining room.
After dinner, Simon connected with Steve Case via video call. Without holding back, he scolded the AOL CEO. While Case attempted some weak rebuttals, he eventually yielded under Simon's pressure.
Simon wasn't reassured by Case's verbal promises. He would wait to see how Case performed. If Case continued to defy him, Simon wouldn't hesitate to replace him, even if it caused internal unrest or a temporary drop in AOL's stock price. If a company couldn't function without a particular executive, Simon considered it unworthy of existence.
As for the stock price, it was ultimately a secondary concern.
Once the restructuring was complete, AOL would be better positioned for future growth, and its long-term stock performance would reflect this.
The next day, May 20, Tuesday, Simon arrived at the office early. His schedule before 9:00 AM was dedicated to Danny Morris, head of New World Pictures, to discuss marketing for upcoming films like American Pie and production plans for projects such as Rush Hour 2.
Morris also mentioned the growing popularity of Hong Kong cinema.
Over the past two years, Hong Kong's film industry had experienced a major slump. Yet, to the surprise of many, it was now making a comeback—especially for Hong Kong filmmakers.
In addition to figures like John Woo and Chow Yun-fat pursuing sought-after projects, Simon had heard of other familiar names planning to break into Hollywood, such as Tsui Hark. Thanks to John Woo's connections, several major Hollywood studios, including New World and MGM, were in talks with him.
Simon recalled that, in the original timeline, Tsui Hark had briefly ventured into Hollywood during this period, collaborating with action star Jean-Claude Van Damme on Double Team. Unfortunately, the venture had been unsuccessful.
In Simon's view, Tsui Hark's talent surpassed John Woo's, and his failure in Hollywood was likely due to bad luck and unsuitable projects.
Thinking about Tsui Hark reminded Simon of his idea to produce a Zu Warriors trilogy while in China.
In the original timeline, Zu Warriors had been a personal passion project for Tsui Hark. Unfortunately, both his 1980s and early 2000s attempts at adapting the IP had failed, turning the series into a cautionary tale for other filmmakers.
Simon believed the failures were due to several factors, including budget constraints. While both attempts had been ambitious, neither had sufficient funding. A fantasy martial arts series as grandiose as Zu Warriors required production values comparable to E.T. in the 1980s and Hero in 2001. Unfortunately, Tsui Hark hadn't been given the resources to achieve this.
As a result, both films were essentially half-finished products.
Additionally, while Tsui Hark's creativity was undeniable, his tendency to go overboard needed to be tempered. Adequate funding would need to be paired with strong oversight to keep the project on track.
Simon decided he would give Tsui Hark another chance with the project, but he would ensure close supervision.
Back in the Daenerys Studios office, Simon, distracted by thoughts of Zu Warriors, told Danny Morris, "If everyone is scrambling, you can keep an eye out. But we don't need to fight for anything—just look for the right project."
Morris nodded and mentioned, "There is one potential project from Golden Harvest called Phantom Agents. I've read the script. The concept revolves around training elite agents through subconscious techniques. It's an intriguing idea, and the story is similar to last year's Black Mask. Oh, and Golden Harvest has invited Miss Jiang from China to star in it. She's agreed."
Simon didn't recall the film but was about to request the script and details about the team when the mention of "Miss Jiang" gave him pause. After a moment, he realized it referred to Jiang Anqi.
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