"Regarding online payments, Simon, I don't think Ygritte's online payment tool will be able to reach sufficient scale in the short term. In my view, ordinary people's ability to accept new things is not as strong as we imagine, and there's not enough consumable content online. Moreover, to ensure the security of online payments, the initial account setup and payment process for Ygritte's tool will definitely be very cumbersome. All of this will limit the development of online payments."
"So?"0
"The market potential for online games should be no less than that of console and PC games. However, we must find a more convenient and faster online payment channel."
Inside the office, Simon listened to Nancy and asked, "You must already have an idea?"
Nancy nodded. "Any user who connects to the internet must pay telecom fees regularly. Moreover, most people often overpay a little to save time and effort. If we could use operator accounts to make purchases directly on the internet, the problem would be solved."
"Actually, Nancy, someone at Ygritte has suggested something similar. But have you considered that in North America alone there are already more than a handful of internet service providers? If we include traditional telecom operators, the number increases further. We might be able to secure companies like America Online and Bell Atlantic, but getting access to all the other telecom operator accounts would likely require more resources than directly promoting an online payment tool."
"Operators can take a commission on payments. There's significant profit involved. We can first bring in a few companies for a trial. When other telecom operators see the profits, they will naturally gradually join this joint payment network."
"That might be true, but your idea has another serious weakness. Even though users usually top up their operator accounts with some extra amount, it's never too much. This would greatly limit the scale of online payments. And operator commissions..." Simon recalled his previous-life experience of recharging a phone account only to have half taken as fees and could not help shaking his head again. "For small payments it might be fine, but the larger the amount, the more sensitive users become to the fees. This would easily push consumers toward other free payment tools. Therefore, even if we successfully build an operator payment network, it would be doomed not to last."
Nancy thought for a moment and had to acknowledge Simon's point. "In that case, we'll have to think of other methods."
Simon's thoughts did not stop there.
Nancy's judgment about the online payment tool was not wrong.
Promoting an online payment tool was indeed not something that could happen overnight. Just developing the payment system would probably take a year. In the early stages, to ensure security and other factors, the account opening and payment processes would indeed be quite cumbersome. Combined with the lack of consumable content on internet platforms, all of this would hinder users' enthusiasm for signing up for the online payment tool.
Therefore, something transitional might be needed in between.
Some kind of guiding tool that could stimulate users to make online payments.
As his thoughts reached this point, Simon suddenly had a flash of inspiration.
In his previous life he had also gone to internet cafes and played games. When Crossfire, CounterStrike, and World of Warcraft were popular, tools like Kakao Pay were still far from widespread. At that time, if you wanted to spend money in games, you could only buy point cards.
Point cards!
Simon could not help snapping his fingers.
Prepaid phone cards were already very common in this era. An online consumption point card would likely be easily accepted by users as well.
Ygritte could completely issue an online payment point card tool. Users would purchase point cards through current retail channels for online consumption. It would not need to be limited to online game spending either. It could also be used to purchase software or pay internet fees.
At the same time, payment point cards could serve as the "kindling" to cultivate users' online spending habits.
Once users became accustomed to online payments, Ygritte's Ypay tool could then use some appropriate marketing methods to naturally convert temporary point card users into formal users who linked their credit cards.
After reorganizing his thoughts, Simon explained his idea to Nancy while opening his email and quickly typing it out before sending it directly to several Ygritte executives.
Today was the day of the Academy Awards ceremony.
At five o'clock in the afternoon, Simon still left work on time. However, instead of heading to the Shrine Auditorium where the ceremony was being held, he went to his villa in the Trousdale Estates in Beverly Hills.
Sophia Fache had been staying there with her children for the past two days, making it convenient to arrange the Gucci brand party that would be held at the Beverly Hilton Hotel nearby.
The little ones had returned to the East Coast yesterday, but the woman was still staying here.
Inside the villa bedroom.
After a thoroughly satisfying round of passion, the sky outside had long since darkened.
The sound of the awards ceremony playing came from the television in the bedroom.
On the large bed, the two of them were covered with a thin blanket.
With her chin resting on her arm, she watched absentmindedly as Dances with Wolves won another award on the TV and chatted casually with him about various recent matters.
Daniel was actually smarter than little Gemma and was learning Spanish very quickly.
Simon's mansion in Paris had nearly been broken into, but the thief had been scared away by the alarm.
Gucci had bought the abandoned factory outside Milan where the fashion show had been held and planned to renovate it into a brand exhibition center.
Her father had unexpectedly caught a very large sea fish. The whole family had eaten seafood for an entire week and probably would not want to touch it again for the next year.
...
The woman spoke in a soft, continuous stream while Simon listened patiently, occasionally responding with a few words.
On the television.
The Best Actress award had arrived without them noticing.
Susan Sarandon, who had replaced Kathy Bates in Misery, smoothly defeated Meryl Streep and several other competitors to become this year's Oscar winner for Best Actress. This was another win for a Daenerys Entertainment production.
After Susan Sarandon finished her acceptance speech, the woman beneath him spoke again. "Simon, I heard you set up a troph fund?"
"Yes. Do you want one too?"
"I don't need it. But the girls in Europe who manage your properties for you should also enjoy this kind of benefit, right?"
Simon had not been to Europe much since last year's honeymoon trip. He thought for a moment. "You can first organize the information and send it to the trophy fund team at Cersei Capital."
Sophia thought about it and then shook her head herself. "The ones I selected for you in Europe are truly just maids. They don't have any entrepreneurial potential."
"Then replace them with a new batch," Simon said with a smile. "Pick from the top universities in Europe. Pay salaries according to North American standards and include shares in the trophy fund. I'm sure we can select the best group."
"What exactly are you trying to achieve by doing this?"
"It's actually an investment. I never do losing business. At the same time, I can cultivate a large group of top-tier vases worth hundreds of millions."
"Mm, you seem so evil."
Simon smiled. Seeing that the TV was now introducing the Best Director nominees, he leaned down and kissed the side of her face. "Do you want to take a shower?"
Sophia knew what Simon meant and shook her head. "No rush. All the necessary work has already been done. Angela is watching things at the Hilton. We just need to make an appearance at the party before it ends."
Simon actually had little interest in attending the party. He nodded.
Sophia soon thought of something else. "About the detective team you asked me to look for in Europe, I found several investigation and consulting firms. We can poach some people. But what do we do next?"
"Keep each team under ten people and establish separate detective agencies. Their salaries will be paid through Westeros Company's overseas accounts. On the surface, they will continue operating as traditional detective agencies. They can accept regular investigation work on normal days, but once they receive orders from us, our work will be their highest priority."
"What exactly do you plan to have them do?"
"For example, investigate whether you've been seeing other men behind my back."
"..."
"Feeling guilty?"
Sophia gave the man a glare but could not help asking, "If... if I did that, what would you do?"
"Nothing much."
"Hmm?"
"As long as you don't team up with some man to murder me, it's fine. I'll just treat it as losing one vase."
"..."
"What? Do you want me to stuff you and that man into a sack and throw you into the high seas?"
"Mm."
At least he was not completely indifferent toward her.
Simon's fingers traced along one of the woman's arms as he said, "I only care about people who care about me. For those who don't care about me, of course I don't care either."
Sophia turned her cheek and rubbed it against the back of his hand, murmuring softly, "Simon, I care about you very much."
"Oh? Prove it to me then?"
"..."
"See? Your lie has been exposed."
"Westeros, you're a bastard."
"From that tone, it seems you really do care a little."
"Bastard."
"Keep going. Grind your teeth more..."
"Ah, don't actually bite!"
She gave his arm a light bite and pretended to start a cold war.
On the television screen, the 61st Academy Awards ceremony officially came to an end.
She still could not help speaking up. "Actually, if you want to build a private intelligence network, there happen to be many opportunities in the past two years."
"Hmm?"
Simon made a questioning sound.
A few days earlier when discussing online payment tool security with the housekeeper Alice Ferguson, Simon had come up with the idea of organizing some private investigation teams to handle potential attacks and theft issues the online payment tool might face.
The plan had already begun to be implemented recently.
In North America, Janet had personally taken over this task, which the woman found quite interesting.
On the European side, although Ygritte had not yet expanded there, Simon had asked Sophia to start looking for teams in advance.
Once the timing was right, this team would later expand to several other continents as well.
On the large bed, Sophia continued, "After the continuous turmoil in Eastern Europe in recent years, many countries' intelligence agencies will undergo downsizing. The two major camps faced off for nearly half a century. Those people are definitely the top intelligence experts. For example, East Germany's Stasi was disbanded in March last year. More than ten thousand people suddenly lost their jobs. Although these people are spies, at the end of the day they are still ordinary people who need to support their families. If they can receive generous compensation, I think they would be very willing to accept the work we offer."
The Stasi was actually East Germany's Ministry for State Security.
Later generations mostly only knew about the KGB, Mossad, MI6, or CIA. In truth, the Stasi was in no way inferior to those agencies. It was just that the others had continued to exist, while the Stasi was directly disbanded after the merger of East and West Germany.
Simon thought for a moment. "These people should be quite hard to find, right? Even if their organizations are dissolved, their identities probably won't be casually exposed."
"As long as we're willing to spend money, we can definitely find them. Besides, we don't want to replicate an entire intelligence agency. We just want to poach some people."
"In that case, try contacting some people. It's best to find those with families. That way they will have attachments. I have no intention of building a criminal network. This is only for self-protection, so I don't need a group of potential backstabbers."
"I understand."
"Also, for now, try not to reveal Westeros Company as the employer. Even if they can guess it, don't make it explicit. And don't leave any direct evidence that could point back to us."
"I'll be careful."
"Good. I'll have James set up another overseas account soon. Spend whatever needs to be spent. As long as these people truly have real skills, they will receive good enough treatment, including helping their families immigrate."
"Mm."
Simon continued to add, "Once we find these people, maintain the small team model of no more than ten per group. Also, don't establish all of them as detective agencies. Too many would be too conspicuous. We can set up other types of shell companies. Trading companies, design firms, even publishing companies would work. In the future I will also create more opportunities to hide some teams directly within Westeros system companies as subsidiary departments."
Sophia nodded again and thought for a moment before asking, "Should we give it a name?"
Simon smiled. "Actually, having no name is better. Stasi, Mossad, KGB, once you say them, people immediately know what they do. Without a name, even if someone notices, they probably won't know where to start."
Sophia refused to give up. "We still need a codename at least, right?"
Simon recalled a film from his memory called The Man with No Name and spoke a single word. "Nobody."
"Hmm?"
Simon smiled. "Nobody. That's the codename."
"That's too plain."
"That's exactly the effect we want."
"Fine."
The two continued casually discussing ideas for the "Nobody" organization, how to select talent, how to build the network, how to test new members, and even began considering the training and selection of backup personnel.
They sounded like two masterminds plotting to overthrow the world.
In truth, it was mostly just something they were doing on a whim.
Therefore, even Simon himself had not expected that many years later, this completely private intelligence organization with a somewhat vague name would grow into such a terrifying level of power and scale.