Chapter 516: The Root of All Evil: Surprise Box (Edited)

Tom's speech was pure motivational literature, and not just any motivational literature, but motivational literature with the essence of the matter.

But Hermione, who had never tasted this motivational literature before, was convinced!

After hearing Tom's words, Hermione's eyes widened in amazement. Although she had a vague sense that something wasn't quite right, she had to admit that Tom's words sounded very reasonable.

"No matter if a person conforms to dominant values, what matters is what they are doing." She repeated this phrase, furrowing her brow in thought.

The Weasleys around her were completely puzzled. They could understand each word Tom said, but when they were strung together, it became incomprehensible.

Who was Bill Gates? What was Harvard? What was Microsoft and coding?

Looking at everyone's confused faces, Harry tried to explain.

"Bill Gates is a wealthy person in the non-magical world who is about to become the richest in the world. Microsoft and programming are a company and a profession, and as for Harvard, it's one of the best universities in the world... one of them," Harry added the "one of them" to maintain his British stubbornness about the best university.

With this explanation, everyone understood.

"Can I consider that a wizard dropped out of Hogwarts, started a business, and became the richest man in the world?" Ginny concluded.

That was a pretty good summary.

"But don't let Mum hear those words," Ron nervously looked around, fearing his mother would appear out of nowhere and give them a lecture.

"You know, ever since Mum saw Fred and George's O.W.L. results, her mood has been very bad. And then, with all this... they even plan to sell this stuff at Hogwarts! They had a big fight that day because Mum wanted them to work at the Ministry of Magic, but they just wanted to open a joke shop."

"The result was that Mum burned all their order forms," Ginny explained the outcome of this conflict on Ron's behalf.

"I actually feel sorry for them. Opening a joke shop sounds great to me," Ron sighed excitedly.

Bill scratched his chin. This story of dropping out of school and succeeding sounded very familiar.

"If I'm not mistaken, Grindelwald was also expelled from Durmstrang, right?" He asked somewhat uncertainly.

"That's right," Hermione immediately responded, being well-versed in magical history. "Although Durmstrang is a school that promotes dark magic, Grindelwald was expelled because he delved too deeply into the path of dark magic."

"So, is Bill Gates the Grindelwald of the Muggle world?" Ron made a simple analogy and arrived at a surprising conclusion.

Tom, Hermione: ...

That statement was a bit too exaggerated. Although in the Muggle world, there are all kinds of conspiracy theories about Bill Gates, such as him being the embodiment of the devil and planning to destroy humanity, comparing him to Grindelwald is a bit over the top. After all, Grindelwald unleashed a world war in the magical world.

If you had to find a Muggle with a position similar to Grindelwald's, it would probably be that Vienna art student who wasn't accepted: the professor didn't let him paint on a canvas, so he painted on a map.

While they were engrossed in their exciting conversation, a door on the second floor opened, and Percy's face, with horn-rimmed glasses, appeared from inside. It was evident that he was quite impatient.

"Hermione? Tom? And Harry?" Seeing the three visitors standing on the staircase, his impatience lessened somewhat. He was clearly surprised by the visit of so many guests.

"Percy, hello," Tom greeted.

"Oh, hello, everyone. Welcome. What are you talking about?"

"Grindelwald."

"Bill Gates."

"The relationship between dropping out of school and becoming a Dark Lord."

Percy: ???

He understood every word but found it challenging to comprehend when strung together.

Percy shook his head as if he wanted to clear those confusing words from his mind. "Well, it's an interesting topic, but could you please speak more quietly? I'm working right now... there's a lot of pressure in the department lately... the noise outside makes it hard for me to concentrate."

"What are you working on?" Harry was curious, and Ron's face next to him instantly changed. He furrowed his brow and winked, trying to get Harry to stop, but it was too late.

Percy was proud to tell Harry that he had been reassigned to the Department of International Magical Cooperation, and Mr. Crouch had given him many tasks, which he had exceptionally completed. He was considered one of the pillars of the younger generation in the Department.

"A few days ago, I just submitted a report on cauldron thickness standards. Some foreign imports have cauldron bases that are too thin, with a permeability rate that increases by 3% each year. It's no joke."

Ron muttered, "An amazing report. It will surely change the world. Headline on the front page of the Prophet: 'Cauldron Leaks.'"

Percy's face turned pink, as if he hadn't heard his brother's comment, and he continued, "I've also received some assignments for during the World Cup... they're various tasks, of different kinds."

"Uh-huh, yeah, yeah," Ron responded rather disinterestedly and headed upstairs. Percy took a deep breath to control his emotions and slammed the door shut, returning to his work.

Ron's room wasn't very large, but it had good lighting and was quite bright. It was covered in posters of the Chudley Cannons Quidditch team, and on the windowsill, there was an aquarium with a giant frog, clearly intended to deter mosquitoes. Ron's owl hopped and flapped in its cage, making quite a racket.

Despite being small, the room managed to contain three beds, which was where Tom would be sleeping that night.

Tom quickly stashed his luggage under the bed. The sheets were already in place, so there wasn't much for him to do. Once his luggage was stored, he was practically done with organizing everything.

Harry did the same. The process was so straightforward that Tom began to doubt whether it was really necessary to bring up their luggage.

Tom approached the window and looked outside. This was probably the best vantage point in the entire place. The village of Ottery St. Catchpole, not far away, was clearly visible amidst the vast fields, dotted with some English cottages. The distant view was a bit blurry, but you could still make out the outlines of the hills.

Upon closer inspection, he could observe the surroundings of the Burrow. The yard was divided into two parts, with a small front yard containing a chicken coop and a garage. The garage used to be where Mr. Weasley kept his Ford Anglia and other Muggle items. Now the garage was empty, and the old car had been wandering in the Forbidden Forest for almost two years, with Mr. Weasley not daring to buy another new car.

Mrs. Weasley was in the yard scolding Fred and George, while Arthur was in a dilemma, not knowing whether to go inside or stay outside.

The second half of the yard was a large garden. At the entrance, there was a small stone cabin, which was the Weasley family's tool shed. When the kids were home, they would usually store their broomsticks there.

Seeing that little cabin, Tom realized that his broomstick was still in his suitcase.

The garden was wild land with a large green pond filled with many frogs. Tom saw Crookshanks running around the garden, chasing a domestic gnome, clearly enjoying that activity.

Hermione also approached and leaned against the window, taking in the scenery.

"Maybe it wasn't a good decision to have Crookshanks living inside the house every day. Not everyone likes being cooped up in a jar like my Occamy." Since the holidays began, Crookshanks stayed at the Granger's house and rarely went out, unlike his behavior at Hogwarts, where he disappeared all the time.

"Are you taking him to the stadium during the World Cup?"

"It's not necessary." Tom unconsciously moved a bit closer to Hermione so she could be closer to him. The main reason he didn't take Crookshanks was that he feared the cat would get too excited and get lost.

"Now I realize you were just sophisticating your argument." Hermione finally understood the strange feeling she had perceived in the earlier conversation. "There are many people who drop out of school, but there's only one Bill Gates. Not everyone can become Bill Gates."

Tom looked at her appreciatively. Well, she was smart. Unlike some fools who actually believed that restaurants washed their dishes seven times and that toilet water was potable.

"But there's also only one Fred and one George in the world."

Although that sounded like a justification, Hermione wanted to say something, but Tom put a finger to her lips.

"Listen first... Fred and George's talent isn't in books. It would be a waste of talent if they went to the Ministry of Magic."

Hermione: ???

"I probably haven't mentioned this to you before, but Fred and George's products are very popular at the Ministry of Magic. When I was part-timing..."

Tom told Hermione about his time as a "second-hand salesman" in Knockturn Alley.

"So, you were able to sell fake wands for two Galleons each?" Hermione was amazed at Tom's marketing skills.

"They're not just ordinary fake wands; they're special limited edition wands!" Tom waved his finger. "I have a plan to make a lot of money and want to give one for free to Fred. First, let me ask you, have you heard of mystery boxes?"

"Mystery boxes?" Hermione had never heard of those.

"Mystery boxes are toy boxes where consumers don't know in advance the specific products they will contain. They have random items."

Hermione: ???

"I don't quite understand... what kind of business doesn't inform customers about the specific products?" As Tom explained, she became even more confused and couldn't see any business opportunity in that.

The culture of mystery boxes originated in the United States and became popular in Japan. Basically, it's a marketing tactic that combines popular products with common ones.

"Let me give you a simple example. The fake wands that Fred and George have developed can transform into twelve different animals. Wizards love fire dragons and dislike mice. What would normally happen if they put the fake wands on the market?"

"The dragon wands would sell out, and the mouse ones wouldn't." The answer was straightforward, and Hermione responded without hesitation.

"Exactly!" Tom snapped his fingers. "But as merchants, of course, we want customers to buy as many fake wands as possible. Customers who like dragons would only buy dragons, and those who like tigers would only buy tigers. That doesn't align with our expectations. In this situation, a normal merchant would increase the production of dragon wands and improve other wand styles, but mystery box merchants don't need to do that; they just need to wrap the wands in an opaque box."

Hermione: (?o?)

She sensed what Tom was getting at.

If a wizard wanted to buy a dragon wand, without mystery boxes, they would only need to spend 7 Sickles, but with mystery boxes, if they were very unlucky, they could spend up to 700 Sickles and still not get a dragon wand!

"But the most despicable part of all this is that I am an honest merchant!" Tom gently tapped the windowsill and watched as the sun slowly set. "You must know that customers can't see the contents of mystery boxes when they buy them, but merchants can see it when they put it in!"

The "surprise" in mystery boxes is one-way; customers are in the dark, but merchants are not. Merchants can determine the most popular styles through market research and then artificially reduce the appearance rate of those styles to stimulate sales through scarcity marketing.

So, in reality, mystery boxes are like gambling, only because it's not so obvious, it escapes regulation and targets people's weaknesses. The emergence of mystery boxes was a victory for marketing, but also a step backward. Everyone should be aware: mystery boxes = gambling.

Tom unleashed this source of evil, but he can't be blamed. Such things would eventually arise, and the sooner they appeared, the sooner they could be controlled. If non-magical world mystery boxes had been strictly regulated from the beginning, the issues would have been much smaller. Furthermore, not all mystery box merchants are bad; some even claim that the total value of the items inside the mystery boxes exceeds the sum of their individual prices.

For example, if a mystery box costs a hundred dollars, they guarantee that the total value of the items it contains is greater than a hundred dollars if purchased individually.

After hearing Tom's explanation, Hermione didn't know whether to laugh or cry: this guy could always come up with something new.

But that was the charm of this big guy, wasn't it? He was a mystery. The more time she spent with Tom, the more she felt the mysterious fog surrounding him, a fog she wanted to dispel.

"This is just a marketing tactic; the most important thing is Fred and George's creations, which are really popular. Did you know that even the Ministry of Magic wanted to place an order?" Tom was exaggerating a bit with his words; the Ministry of Magic wanted to bulk-purchase the magical artifacts he manufactured, but those joke products hadn't caught the Ministry's attention.

"Maybe you're right," Hermione's attitude relaxed a bit with the mention of the Ministry of Magic's interest. "But they still need to study a lot. Without education, how can they create innovative toys?"

"That's true, but I trust in their talent more." Tom smiled and shook his head. The Weasley twins were the leaders of the "abandoned generation"! Despite such unfavorable developmental conditions, they managed to launch so many joke products, which proved their talent.

"By the way, you said that the most important thing about a person is what they're doing. What do you want to do in the future?" Hermione looked at Tom, trying to discern something in his calm black eyes.

She was very curious about Tom's ideals. It surely wouldn't be becoming a prison warden, right?

"I have two ideals. One is to explore the future of the magical world. As we know, if technology continues to advance, it's only a matter of time before the magical world is revealed to human society. Our generation could be the last chance for the magical world. Of course, if in several decades, Muggles don't advance, continue fighting among themselves, and technology stagnates, then the magical world could survive a bit longer, but we can't base our future on something so uncertain."

The topic suddenly became heavy.

Tom, who was previously talking about making money, suddenly became serious, and Hermione felt a bit uncomfortable.

"You and I..." she fidgeted with her hands, entwining them together, just as confused as her feelings. Tom's words had worried her.

"And as for my second ideal..." Tom leaned in closer to Hermione's ear and whispered something. Immediately, Hermione's face turned as red as a tomato.

While Tom and Hermione chatted and enjoyed the scenery, Harry was talking to Ron about Percy.

According to what Ron told him, Percy had recently gone mad, working like crazy every day, and it seemed Crouch appreciated him a lot, giving him many tasks to do.

"When can we eat?" Ginny asked quietly, "I'm getting a bit hungry."

Bill looked out the window and reached a conclusion: it was still a while until dinner.

"Go downstairs and check on your parents' place." Tom gently tugged at Hermione's sleeve, indicating that she should go with him.

Bill watched as Tom slowly disappeared down the stairs, unsure if he should say something. Finally, he decided to wait and talk to Tom during dinner.

The Granger's room was on the ground floor. When Tom and Hermione arrived in their room, they found the Grangers examining the various arrangements in the room.

"It's a miracle," Mr. Granger said as he pointed to a picture on the wall, "All these images can move!"

"And these sculptures can move as well," Mrs. Granger expressed interest in a sculpture of a dog's head on the bedside table. The sculpture responded to Mrs. Granger's gestures, raising the spear it held in its hand and making the tip of the spear shine, revealing that it was actually a night lamp.

This statue had a strong Egyptian style, obviously Bill's property.

"I hope you feel comfortable here," Tom looked at the objects placed in the room to ensure there was nothing that could startle the Grangers.

After a quick glance and not finding anything out of the ordinary, the Weasleys seemed quite reliable; they had removed all dangerous items from the room.

The four of them started chatting without a particular topic. After a while, Harry appeared at the door with good news: Mrs. Weasley was already preparing dinner.

When they all arrived in the ground floor kitchen, it was bustling with activity: Charlie and Bill were setting the table, Ginny was carrying the dishes that would be needed later, and Mr. Weasley kindly led the Grangers out of the kitchen. Ron and Harry were assigned to set the silverware and wash the glasses, while Tom and Hermione naturally helped as well.