America 1982-Chapter 168 - 63: The World is Really Crowded

Quincy, Massachusetts, a private dock at Quincy Bay.

At the end of the jetty, a three-masted sloop about fifty meters long was anchored. With its masts raised and sails unfurled, the entirely white vessel looked like an elegant white swan taking a graceful rest in the azure sea.

At the dock’s recreational area, billionaire Robert Miller, who had just finished a tour of the ship, turned to his fellow Cornell University alumnus and CEO of Marine Line Shipping, Julian Farrell, who was selecting cigars recommended by his butler, "What do you think I should name my third superyacht?"

"The first one is called Pia, the second Mary, and the whole world knows the third should be named Alexandra. There’s no difficulty in that question. The real challenge will be what to name the fourth one since you only have three daughters," Farrell said as he chose a cigar and asked the butler to toast it for him. He chuckled, then continued, "Unlike me, who manufactures and sells boats but only owns one yacht in my and my wife’s name, which, like my daughter, is named Ottelia. Speaking of yachts, are you sure you don’t need one? Every time you ask me to design these monohulls for you, you know..."

Robert Miller made a pleading gesture and appealed to Farrell, "Julian, please, don’t try to sell me yachts, those mere symbols of wealth. This is what a man should buy for himself, alright? Once I’ve chosen a good crew, I’m going to sail across the Atlantic on this ’Alexandra’, breaking the world record for crossing the Atlantic—yet again."

"Mr. Miller, the monthly issue of ’Agenda’ from SSD has arrived. Would you like to look at it now, or shall I take it to your study or bedroom?" the butler approached, bowed slightly, and whispered.

"It’s fine, just bring it here, Charlie. I can brag to Farrell until we grow old and lie in our graves that he never joined SSD, while I was a part of it. That will be his lifelong regret and my lifelong glory," Robert turned and told the butler before mockingly taunting Farrell with an exaggerated gesture.

"Hey! I’m not some unwanted lackey—I joined VSA, okay? I’m a Phoenix Society man! Everyone knows the Phoenix Society is superior to the White Robe Society. Besides, I’m the ultimate winner here. I managed to woo and marry the international sweetheart from SSD," Farrell sat up indignantly, pointed toward a group of women showcasing their cooking skills not far away, and gestured for Robert to notice, "That’s why I now have my lovely daughter, Ottelia."

Robert also looked at his wife and three daughters, who were happily grilling meats and chatting with Farrell’s wife and daughter.

"Time flies, Julian. It always seems like those stupid things we did in college happened just yesterday. Phoenix Society, White Robe Society, Bishop Society, Hunter Society, Wolf Society... In the blink of an eye, our daughters have graduated from college, and we’ve turned our six-packs into beer bellies." He withdrew his gaze and spoke to Farrell with a touch of nostalgia.

At that moment, butler Charlie brought over the issue of ’Agenda’, a magazine distributed internally among living members of SSD. Robert took it and began to flip through, "I am grateful I joined SSD. Without the connections from SSD, there would be no Robert Miller of today, nor the DFS empire. I am not you, Julian. You could join the Phoenix Society riding on your father’s coattails, while my father was only a salesman, and my mother a substitute teacher. Without SSD, I might have ended up as a hotel manager after graduation, considering my degree was in hotel management from Cornell University, the cheapest major they offered that year."

Julian nodded in understanding. He was well aware of the experiences of his classmate, who would order a new superyacht from him every so often. To put it simply, Robert and his current partner Chuck Finney, two brilliant jerks, met at Cornell’s SSD Chapter and hit it off instantly, telling the world about a new, highly profitable industry: duty-free shop chains.

Thanks to SSD’s myriad connections within the military, the two made money in Asia during college vacations.

In South Korea and Japan, just outside the United States Military bases, they sold cheap cigarettes and alcohol to American soldiers, sourcing their goods from smuggling channels. At that time, the term duty-free goods was still quite unfamiliar, but smuggling was common knowledge. However, police and tax authorities of those countries did not dare stop them from openly selling smuggled goods to U.S. soldiers. Japan once tried; a few policemen attempted to confiscate the goods, only to be beaten into a pulp by a few U.S. soldiers. The aftermath was Japanese strong discontent, the stationed U.S. forces expressing regret, and the soldiers who beat the policemen were sent to Hawaii for a vacation.

After that, nobody dared to point fingers at such matters anymore.

Relying on American power and illegal methods, they quickly made their first bucket of gold in other countries. Afterwards, the two registered and established DFS Corporation, which rapidly expanded through SSD’s military connections, bringing duty-free stores to every airport in Europe and Asia with a United States military presence.

Today, those two young men, who could only afford the least expensive majors, are now the founders of DFS, the world’s largest travel retailer with nearly a hundred duty-free stores.

Although DFS hasn’t gone public to avoid disclosing shareholder information, business magazines value the company at up to four billion dollars. As long as the Cold War continues, as long as the United States keeps increasing its military presence overseas, this company will keep expanding, monopolizing core spaces in the airports of host countries.

What’s even more frightening is that no one truly knows how many shareholders DFS has or the identities of these shareholders.

Anyway, Julian knew Robert for so many years but only knew the two alumni who founded DFS Corporation.

"This article isn’t bad." At this moment, Robert found an interesting piece of writing in the magazine and read it excitedly:

"If the nerds from the prestigious schools in Boston think that having Yale and Harvard as their banner can scare off SSD members, I don’t mind kicking their asses and re-teaching them what SSD is. It seems they need support, Charlie, call the SSD headquarters for me, find out if these kids need a lawyer or anything... No need, I see they’ve found a lawyer from the white-shoe law firm..."

Soon, Robert fell silent, and his expression shifted from killing time to intrigued. After reading the entire article, he spoke, "Call Chuck Finney at the Hong Kong headquarters and have him issue an internal notice in the name of DFS Corporation that the company’s office software will switch to Actor Corporation’s OSS, whether for efficiency, cost, or other reasons. This should be done before the trial. He must have also received this magazine, so he will understand the implications of ’before the trial.’

"Do you need me to call the headquarters again to have someone call and thank you?" the butler asked.

"No need. I’m on vacation in Massachusetts. They will come to thank me in person. Besides, if they don’t come, we are major commercial users of OSS. We have every reason to intervene under the premise of potential economic and labor losses due to the ruling," Robert said, then handed the magazine to Farrell:

"SSD is about to give birth to another Robert and Charlie, this time in California, Stanford University’s SSD branch, Tommy and Jason."

"Are you sure I won’t be violating SSD’s confidentiality rules by reading your internal magazine?" Julian teased before taking the magazine. Unlike Robert, he wasn’t as interested because this wasn’t the internal magazine of the Phoenix Society. He merely glanced at the photos and skimmed the content, then placed the magazine on the table: "Calling them suited bandits would not be an exaggeration. At least I’ve never seen an engineer responsible for program control keep such an exhilarated expression in his photo during legal troubles, especially when up against Lotus Corporation, the well-known software company in Boston..."

"Taste my freshly baked vanilla cookies, Mr. Miller, and father," Ottelia said, wearing baking gloves and bringing over a batch of freshly baked cookies. She placed them on the table in front of both men and happened to spot the photo in the magazine.

She was first slightly surprised, then somewhat incredulous as she picked up the magazine and looked at the photo of Tommy and Jason: "Tommy Hawk? Is this Tommy?"

"You know him?" Farrell first paused, then realized: "Tommy Hawk, is that the kid who made a fortune off the international summer camp and incidentally got himself into Stanford? The world is indeed a crowded place."

Robert also looked at Ottelia, but it was Farrell’s remark that piqued his interest: "Ottelia, do you mind explaining to me while we eat cookies, what ’made a fortune off the international summer camp and incidentally got himself into Stanford’ means?"