Chapter 990: , Iron Fist Invincible Uesugi Muneyuki!

PS: The second update will be a bit delayed—blame my brother for losing so badly!

That afternoon, Sōsuke Munakata stood in the hallway of the police headquarters building, his dark grey three-piece suit pressed so sharply not a single wrinkle remained.

He had just returned from Fukuoka when Eiji Watanabe immediately summoned him.

What the heck is going on?

My adoptive father seeking me out on his own initiative? This must be a major matter.

Sōsuke Munakata felt a vague, uneasy premonition stir in his chest.

Something wrong with Minami? Impossible!

*Knock knock~*

*Come in~*

Eiji Watanabe's office as Police Commissioner was spacious, though not extravagant.

On the dark wooden desk lay several stacks of documents; the wall-mounted cabinets were packed with file folders and bound legal compendiums, a golf club leaned in the corner, an old photo of Watanabe from his days as chief of Investigation Division One, and numerous honors and medals he'd earned over the years. Outside the window, the green canopy of the Imperial Palace grounds swayed gently in the April sunlight, while distant modern skyscrapers appeared as silhouettes against the glass. Watanabe sat behind his desk, gripping a pen, a document spread before him.

Seeing his good son enter, the good father put down his pen and gestured toward the opposite chair: "Sit."

Munakata sat down, placing his briefcase at his feet: "Father, you summoned me? What about Minami?"

"Tsk, Munakata—at the police headquarters, you must use proper titles." Watanabe said, visibly displeased.

"Yes, Commissioner Watanabe, may I ask what brings you here?" Munakata's eyes flickered—he could see Watanabe was uneasy. Father and son were now staunch allies, and to some extent, due to Munakata's ability and decisiveness, he had gained a certain initiative. At this moment, Watanabe's bluster must mean he needed something—something hard to say but necessary, the subtle discomfort of an elder speaking to a younger.

The complex relationship between fathers and sons in East Asia is always so fascinating.

Watanabe leaned back in his chair, silent for a few seconds, then spoke in a tone trying to sound casual: "I heard your trip to Fukuoka… was more eventful than expected?"

"Eventful" isn't quite the right word," Munakata replied, nodding, a mix of lingering unease and nostalgic fascination: "But it definitely wasn't boring—those cultists' antics were… ecited!"

"As for those cultists, I saw the report. Since it's a special operation by the Public Security Police, I shouldn't pry too deeply." Watanabe didn't ask for details: "Just glad you came back safely."

He paused, as if finally finding the right angle: "But today I called you here not to ask about Fukuoka. It's another matter—rather… well, how do I put it? I don't even know if this is good or bad, but…"

"Just say it, Father—we're on the same side, aren't we?" Munakata muttered.

Watanabe reached over, picked up a document, flipped to the first page, and pushed it across: "Have you met Naoki Hanzawa?"

"I've seen him on TV. I don't really remember him—have we met? I don't recall." Munakata nodded: "Finance Minister Hanzawa, former governor of the Bank of Tokyo, famed for 'an eye for an eye,' 'tenfold repayment,' no—'hundredfold repayment.'"

"You should get used to him quickly—Ōwada stepped down, and Hanzawa is now acting Prime Minister." Watanabe's tone was steady, but beneath lay a layer of weary resignation: "He took office three days ago, and his first words were to begin pushing the government debt replacement plan before the year-end election, to restructure national assets, local debt, pensions, and inflation targets. With national debt at 260% of GDP, he intends to dig up the foundations within six months, leaving the next cabinet no way to avoid it." Munakata listened intently: "I have a question, Father?"

"I know—you want to know how Japan's debt got so high, right?" Watanabe said, as if asking him, or perhaps talking to himself: "After the bubble burst, the government kept issuing debt to stimulate the economy, bail out financial institutions, and maintain employment. Borrow, spend, borrow again, spend again. At first it was a stopgap, then it became habit, then it turned into a taboo no one dares touch—because any proposal to cut public spending gets labeled as 'making the people suffer.' So debt has rolled like a snowball, only growing, occasionally trimmed for show, but the overall trend never changed. Now, at 260% of GDP, this figure has far exceeded what's considered 'normal' for a nation."

"So this is what they call Modern Monetary Theory? MMT?" Munakata fell silent for a moment.

"Pretty much… Munakata, I'm not an economics expert." Watanabe nodded.

Here's a simple introduction to what "Modern Monetary Theory" is.

In modern monetary theory, money is not seen as a equivalent or financial credit, but as a tool to increase circulation and activate society. In this view, financial surpluses are bad because they mean money isn't being circulated or used to its fullest, while deficits are good because they mean all money is being put to work.

According to this theory, the government's only job in issuing money is to press "0" on a calculator, and all monetary stimulus should be encouraged. If there's too much money and too much debt in the market, the solution is simply to raise taxes and withdraw the excess. This is a rough overview—just enough for everyone to grasp.

In reality, countries worldwide operate this way to sustain economies—for example, the UK's national debt rose from 30% in the early 20th century to 100% today—but no one can fully follow MMT, say, because the U. S. system doesn't allow unlimited money printing, only unlimited borrowing, while some other system across the sea forbids unlimited debt but allows unlimited money creation.

Japan is the only country that can both print money without limit and borrow without limit.

Three reasons: Japan holds over $5.5 trillion in disposable overseas assets and hundreds of billions in cash; Japanese corporations had ¥1.6 quadrillion in account balances in the 1990s, now ¥6.4 quadrillion; similarly, Japanese citizens had ¥700 trillion in bank deposits in the late 1990s, now exceeding ¥1,000 trillion.

90% of Japan's national debt is held by Japanese citizens, corporations, and organizations.

Put plainly, through this system, Japan has been silently diluting the real savings of its people and corporations in their accounts, while the yen's depreciation actually reduces the real burden of Japan's debt, since the government's main assets are in dollars, and major trading houses settle in dollars—debt interest can't keep up with inflation and currency depreciation, which helps keep overall prices stable.

"You can't outrun me—do you believe that?"

Yen exchange rate

Of course, this system can't last forever, because Japanese people can't endlessly tolerate yen depreciation and savings dilution, and any incoming administration wanting to act can only do two things: borrow more aggressively, spend more recklessly.

Otherwise, with no money in hand, they can't do anything.

As for the future? Only heaven knows—trust in the wisdom of those to come.

Of course, more radical fiscal theories than MMT already exist, called "universal basic income."

He closed the file, looked at Munakata: "Hanzawa wants to move on this piece of bone. It's correct—but also extremely dangerous."

"If he pushes this hard before the year-end election, the cabinet's entire focus will be sucked into it, leaving other areas—including the police—starved of resources. And if he fails, the next cabinet after the election will inevitably be more conservative, more inactive. We may need to consider—using some method—to shift public attention away from economic policy."

Munakata tilted his head slightly: "What method?"

He was beginning to understand.

Watanabe fell silent for two seconds.

Then the Police Commissioner spoke softly, voice lowered: "For example… a major case. Big enough to dominate media headlines for days, pushing aside the debt replacement plan. The police have their own investigative rhythm—we already have many ongoing cases, perhaps some could be fast-tracked for high-profile attention."

After saying that, he glanced at Munakata's expression: "For instance… you?"

"Me?" Munakata chuckled: "I need to produce a big case too?"

"I'm not telling you to find a nonexistent case. I'm asking: do you have anything on your desk already big enough—just needing to be pushed into the spotlight?"

The office fell silent for a few seconds.

Munakata stared at his adoptive father, face twisted in conflict.

Watanabe looked away unnaturally—he knew his request was shameless and underhanded, but he had no choice. As the saying goes: if you don't want to do it, plenty of others do; if you don't want to be police commissioner, plenty are eager to take your place.

But Munakata's reaction was not what Watanabe expected.

He thought: Isn't this a coincidence?

I also want to make a big splash.

Munakata affected deep thought for a while, then finally spoke: "I understand. I don't currently have a case ready to push to the front page, but I can go find one."

Watanabe blinked, then widened his eyes: "You agreed?"

"Agreed." Munakata's voice was calm: "I've also wanted to do something big. I'll explain the reasons later—but for now, I can tell you the direction: entertainment."

"Entertainment?"

"Yes." Uesugi Muneyuki nodded: "Drug-related. This field is sensitive enough and impactful enough, and once it breaks out, the media headlines will be filled for at least three days. Give me a few days to prepare."

Watanabe Eiji's eyes gradually lit up; he had thought convincing Uesugi Muneyuki would take a long time, even pleading with him: "Good! But we are police, we must have a bottom line! You cannot frame innocent people!"

"Don't worry." Uesugi Muneyuki smiled: "He doesn't use drugs, why would I arrest him?"

"Then that's settled!" Watanabe Eiji finally let out a deep sigh of relief: "Go ahead and do it, you have my back! But... Muneyuki, you agreed so easily? That's a bit unexpected."

"Minami is already pregnant, isn't she?" Uesugi Muneyuki pondered for a moment, then said: "Mikoto is also due soon, I now have a family, I have a weakness, what happened on the cruise ship this time has... inspired me."

"People always change, Minami's due date is in September, the doctor said everything is normal. Okada is currently acting as section chief, you don't need to worry about the Special Mission Division." Watanabe Eiji somewhat understood why Uesugi Muneyuki had changed.

"That's good, right." Uesugi Muneyuki smiled: "Ministry of Health and Welfare... Metropolitan Police Department... District Public Prosecutors Office..."

"I will have the Metropolitan Police Department issue a joint operation document to you. I will also greet the Ministry of Health and Welfare for you." Watanabe Eiji said without hesitation.

"Loyalty! Sincerity!" Uesugi Muneyuki stood up and saluted Watanabe Eiji.

"Loyalty! Sincerity!" Watanabe Eiji also saluted.

The door closed.

Only Watanabe Eiji remained in the office, sitting behind his desk, he lowered his head to glance at the national debt document pushed to the desk corner, then raised his head to look at the tightly closed door.

"Damn brat-......" he muttered to himself, then couldn't help but laugh.

"Minami, well done!"

A few days later, Fuji TV, Hand of God variety show recording site

The special program recording of the Hand of God variety show was arranged in Fuji TV's largest studio. The deep blue background wall was inlaid with the luminous program logo, the lighting was adjusted just right, bright but not glaring.

The studio had about eighty live audience members, most of them loyal fans of the show, some holding up Shirakawa Mai's support signs, some wearing T-shirts printed with Uesugi Muneyuki's drama line "The truth is not on the surface."

The theme of this episode is "Metropolitan Police Department Special Cooperation·Drug Prohibition and Hazards."

This is a temporarily jointly planned episode by Fuji TV and the Metropolitan Police Department, the theme was long decided—simple and easy to understand, educational, and would not touch on any sensitive topics.

Uesugi Muneyuki and Shirakawa Mai sat in the central guest seats, facing a black lacquered round table with Suntory-196° sparkling wine on it. Host Hisaka Akiko sat opposite, wearing a light blue professional suit dress, her smile proper and gentle.

Tei Reiji finally rolled over!

Finally it's my turn!

Uesugi Muneyuki today wore that dark gray three-piece suit, the dark red tie tied perfectly, Shirakawa Mai sat beside him, wearing a pearl white suit jacket, inner black turtleneck, hair neatly tied back.

The two sitting side by side naturally, as if recreating their on-screen combination in the studio—a calm forensic scientist and a daring partner. Whenever these two appear, ratings are guaranteed!

Hisaka Akiko followed the script and asked some preset questions: "Mr. Uesugi, from the perspective of forensic medicine, what specific aspects does the harm of drugs to the body manifest in? Are there any typical cases that can help us understand more intuitively?"

Uesugi Muneyuki answered several aspects according to the script.

Such as irreversible damage to the nervous system, the risk of organ failure, the danger of withdrawal reactions, as simple as possible so as not to overload the audience's pig brains, the audience members nodded frequently.

Shirakawa Mai supplemented a few sentences on the side about "the long-term impact of drugs on mental state," with a calm pace and clear emphasis.

But this really does seem a bit boring.

Fuji TV frowned, although this was requested by the Metropolitan Police Department for cooperation, overall it's not that interesting.

The ratings for this episode might drop below 22%.

When the recording reached about twenty-five minutes, Hisaka Akiko glanced at her cue card, then raised her head, continuing the question according to the next item on the script: "Thank you for your detailed explanations. Finally, we want to ask, could you please ask Chief Uesugi to give us a specific, real-life example?" "Of course!" Uesugi Muneyuki gladly satisfied Hisaka Akiko's request.

He sat upright, lifted his gaze, his fingers passing over Hisaka Akiko's shoulder, landing somewhere in the audience seating area, where a few waiting performers sat, arranged by the show team as "guest audience."

One person wore a black-and-white patchwork leather jacket and dark long pants, hair clean dark brown shoulder-length short hair, sitting there slightly tilting their head was Sawajiri Erika!

"For example, like Sawajiri Miss!"

The entire venue fell silent, everyone's eyes fell on Sawajiri Erika.

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