Our demand is 2 billion yen.

The hostage is 350 million kilo-liter of Hinode Beer

If you fail to pay,

the hostage dies.

1 trillion...

And if our customers get sick or die,

the damage to our company will be far greater

The perpetrators want to make money with stocks?

We should let the police handle this.

Pretend to comply to perpetrator's demand?

Yes

And if you don't want the hostage to die, don't show *this* letter to the police.

Good morning,

I'm Goda and I'll be providng your security

- Come in
- Thank you

LADY JOKER

LADY JOKER
Episode 3

Have a great day

- Good morning
- Good morning

This is Mr. Goda from Oomori station

Hello, I'm his assistant Nozaki.

- Yoroshiku
- Yoroshiku

You can get my schedule from Ms. Nozaki

Mr. Shirai and Kurata are waiting for you.

Ok

- Mr. Goda
- Yes

While you are here, your name will be Tanaka

This is Mr. Shiroyama's schedule for today.

The original letter is on its way here, but here's a copy of what was dropped off at our Kyoto factory.

Get 600 million yen in circulated bills

Put them in boxes, and transport them with a white stationwagon.

Use one driver, wearing sleeveless shirt.

No outerwear, and no hat.

Bring a cellphone.

On the 2nd, at 11PM, wait for our instruction at Tokyo Marina

We will send a message the customer service center.

- Lady Joker -

I found this in my mailbox this morning

We sent a letter to the Kyoto factory

Notify the police, and follow their direction.

However, the 600 million yen should be kept at your company premise.

And if you don't want the hostage to die, don't show *this* letter to the police.

- Lady Joker -

"600 million yen should be kept at your company premise"

- What do you think that means?
- Not sure

There's one thing bothering me...

When I picked this up this morning,

Mr. Goda suddenly showed up at my house.

Did he see it?

I can't say for sure..

Once we decide to hide that letter from the police,

we cannot go back on our decision.

I understand

I'm going to get going

- I'm Shirai
- I'm Goda

- President is looking for you
- Ok

Hey you,

Your eyes still scream detective.

I'll be more careful

Come on in

Excuse me

The perpetrator sent a letter to our Kyoto factory

We've already notified the police.

Here's a copy

Thank you.

Tomorrow,

"Lady", what?

"Lady" as in "First Lady"

Joker, as in a card game.

Lady Joker
(Hinode kidnapper - Lady Joker)

That's the perpetrators' group name

How much are they demanding?

600 million

Did they contact by letter, or phone?

They dropped off the letter by the Kyoto factory gate.

What did it exactly say?

Get 600 million yen in circulated bills

Delivery to take place tomorrow 11PM

Delivery vehicle to be a white stationwagon

Somewhere in Tokyo

I can't tell you any more than that.

Where's the vehicle coming from? Hinode head quarter? Branch office?

Cut me some slacks, will you? See ya,.

Where is the car being dispatched from?

Not sure

But if the delivery is to take place in Tokyo,

the delivery vehicle will come from either Yokohama branch, or Kanagawa factory

Is he a reliable source?

- Yes
- Guess we'll find out later

Hey Hinode team

Cash delivery to take place tomorrow 11PM

- Kagawa
- Yes sir

- You're going to stake out
- Yes sir

Lady Joker...

sounds like a horse name at a minor race event.

Or a TV show name,
or a female wrestler.

I wonder what it means

It's begun

Do you think Hinode will pull through?

They will.

How is the preparation going?

Going perfectly.

Go! Go!

Arrived at residence at 6:15AM.
Surrounding looked ok.

8:30, arrived at HQ, and headed to 27th floor

8:35, VP Shirai and Kurata meet with Shiroyama

Unable to hear their conversation

You're quite early

How much?

3 energy drinks
That would be 600 million yen.

Keep the 400 million change

Oh, economy must be good!

Thank you very much

...060422V

AD021635H...

Yeah? OK

Just got a call from Yoshida from the reporters club.

He said there was no mention of Hinode at his morning briefing.

How are other newspaper doing?

Yoshida said other newpapers haven't made any progress on Hinode story.

- So it's just us?
- Yes, this is our Exclusive

Great, get to it.

Hey Kagawa!

The vehicle has left the premise.

OK

It's moving. Let's go.

This is Kagawa

The car is out of the building. It's a white stationwagon

I'm sorry ffor calling late. It's Yashiro from Toho newspaper.

Please keep it short

The name of the perpetrator is Lady Joker, correct?

We haven't confirmed that yet.

Yesterday morning, a letter demanding 600 million yen arrived at the Kyoto factory.

I can neither confirm nor deny

40 minutes ago, a white stationwagon left the Tokyo HQ buiding

It is heading to Koto.

It's going to deliver the cash, right?

If you publish that, it would be deemed intefering with police investigation.

Moreover,

it will have negative impact on Hinode Co.

You should know that latitude of freedom on reporting isn't that wide.

If we publish it after the money exchange takes place, then it is not interference.

Customers and investors have the right to know as soon as possible.

It'll be in the morning paper

Please wait until midnight.

The perpetrator hasn't shown up, but the money transfer is still happening, right?

We'll call you after midnight.

Ok

They're going to call us after midnight.

It's Kawakami

Hinode just received an instruction from Lady Joker

Nearby Kiyosu bridge in Kitasuna, you'll see a silver station wagon in front of a fishing store.

Put all the money in that car, and leave the premise.

- Got it?
- Ok

Should we ID him?

Yes

No, wait!

Shit...

Hello

It's Hirase

There's no sign of perpetrator

Ok

Excuse me

Hello, this is Yashiro

It's Kanzaki

The perpetrator never showed up

The perpetrator never showed up

OK!

"Hinode Beer makes contact with the perpetrator"

"Perpetrator's name is Lady Joker"
Let's go with these two headlines!

Yes sir!

You got 30 minutes!

Hello?

As per perpetrator's direction,

we stored the cash in the company's safe

Ok. Thank you.

The perpetrator never showed up.

Why are we jumping through so many hoops?

Why don't we just make them pay us 2 billion yen?

I want to embarass them, both Hinode and the police.

This will hurt Hinode and their stock price will drop.

2 billion yen...

Can't wait to get my hands on it.

- I gotta go
- Take care

Hinode Beer makes contact with perpetrator!
"Lady Joker" demands 600 million yen.

Hinode Beer makes contact with perpetrator!
"Lady Joker" demands 600 million yen.
We just made it.

Hinode Beer makes contact with perpetrator!
"Lady Joker" demands 600 million yen.
I wonder if the pereptrator will show their face

We did it!

We're the only one to get the story out!

Alright!

Yashiro, breakfast is on me

No, make that sushi dinner.

Anyway, I wonder why Lady Joker never showed up

Let's talk about that later tonight.

Thanks for your hard work

Hinode Beer makes contact with perpetrator!
"Lady Joker" demands 600 million yen.

Did you store 600 million yen in circulated bills at your company premise?

We will make our second demand in coming days.

For further instruction, call this number tonight between 9 and 9:05.

If you want to keep the hostage alive,

don't tell the police about this letter.

- Lady Joker -

Hatano family

Mr. Shirai and Kurata are here

- Let them in
- Please go ahead

Excuse me

You can just use this to talk.

We'll record using this.

Dialing...

Hello

This is Shiroyama from Hinode beer

We'll shortly make our second demand.

This time, it's 700 million yen.

Keep the first 600 million yen where it is,

and find additional 700 million yen.

Got it

Our future communication,

will be marked around your residence Sannou area.

Your morning route always passes by a bus stop, right?

Right by that corner,

you will see a light pole near the left guardrail.

It's right by the bus stop.

If you see a white cloth wrapped around that light pole in the morning,

you are to call this number between 9 and 9:05PM that evening.

Outside that time, I will not pick up.

Any questions?

Is there another way to contact?

No.

That's it for tonight

- Anything happened?
- Nope

You can leave for the day.

Thank you for your hard work

Mr. Kurata,

- Do you have a minute?
- Sure

It's regarding the document we're going to distribute at next Board meeting.

Oh that's right. This way please.

Actually, it's about the bodyguard.

You mean, Mr. Goda?

He may be trying to eavesdrop, because he always knows when Mr. Shiroyama is about to come out.

Were you able to hear us talk?

No, I don't think so.

I think he is able to pick up on Mr. Shiroyama's footstep.

Anyway, he always seems to be looking for something.

He is more like a spy than a bodyguard.

Police already suspects us of back door dealing,

so you may be right about that.

Thank you

- Hello, this is Monoi.
- It's me, Handa.

I came to stop by your store,

but I see there are detectives around

What?

There are two cops who are monitoring you, Mr. Monoi

They're keeping their eyes on your store

- Are we busted?
- No, that's not it

It's probably because of the Hatano's audio CD.

And you are a person of interest

So they're just keeping an eye on you.

So I wouldn't worry about it

But I didn't think they would figure it out so soon.

What should we do?
Yo-chan is also here.

Don't worry

Just don't think too much, and carry on as usual.

Ok I got it.

Are YOU ok?

To think that a perpetrator they're looking for is hiding in plain sight amongst them,

would freak them out if they knew.

I'll call you later.

Thanks

Detectives are outside staking out.

- What?
- Don't worry.

It's because of the audio CD case.

Handa told us to just carry on as usual

Ok...

Otsukare

- How are things going?
- Eh, so so.

- Is Dad here?
- Yes, in the office

Thanks

It's Kurata

They just found a note from Lady Joker at our Sendai factory entrance.

They're demanding 700 million yen, to be delivered tomorrow.

- Please alert the police
- Got it.

Off to work.

- Good morning
- Good morning

Prepare 700 million in circulated bills

Put the cash in a box,

and depart HQ at 11:15pm.

Head towards Ikebukuro,

and wait for further instruction
- Lady Joker -

I found a white cloth this morning,

so I'll be calling them later.

We'll find out the real instruction then.

Please have a look at this.

Speculators are making their moves

Are they related to Lady Joker?

If the prepetrator end up sabotaging our products, speculators are going to have a field day shortselling our stock
(*shortselling = you profit when stock price goes down*)

If I were the prepetrator, I would do it.

You mean, sabotage our products?

If the perpetrator's motive was to profit from stock price movement,

they can do something terrible in the future.

So we can continue this fake backdoor transactions with them,

but we need to get to the real one soon.

Ok

Oh one more thing. .

I'm going to temporarily transfer Sugihara to oversea

Sugihara?

If the media gets a hold of it, the company will suffer.

I feel terrible about saying this,

but Sugihara has completely lost his confidence

At a critical time like this,

he can't be left in charge of the operations.

Understood

- I'll leave it up to you.
- Ok

Excuse me

Sugihara

- Are you ok?
- What do you mean?

Kurata said you're not feeling well

No, I'm ok.

Good to hear that
Keep up the good work.

Ok

Kyosuke

Nevermind.

Take it easy ok?

Ok

AA83522EF

This is Shiroyama

You saw the white cloth,right?

Just like last time, we will not be picking up the cash delivery.

So after the "failed" delivery, tell the police that the cash will be stored in the bank.

But make sure the 700 million is stored at the company premise.

Ok

I'll look forward to tomorrow

- Are you going home now?
- Yes

Mr. Goda, where is hometown?

- I'm from Osaka
- Where in Osaka?

A middleclass neighborhood of Higashisumiyoshi

I know that area

When I was working at Osaka, I used to live nearby.

I see

- Mr. Yamazaki
- Yes sir

- I want to stop by somewhere
- Yes sir

Thanks for waiting

Mackeral sushi and udon, huh?
Brings back memories

I miss these from my Osaka days, so I've meaning to try them lately

- Itadakimasu
- Itadakimasu

It's delicious

I know it was over thirty years ago,

but I was part of the sales team,

and I was always out selling beers.

Those were the fun days.

Here it goes. Let's move.

Really?

Just go a tip that Hinode is out for their second cash delivery

The stationwagon has arrived

Ordering us around here and there.

The perpetrators know their back roads really well.

One of them is probably taxi or truck driver.

You think so?

Or even a police.

When they kidnapped Mr. Shiroyama, they managed to go undetected,

and took back roads without security cameras.

What the hell?!

What's going on?!

I don't know!

What's the status?!