In 1984, a terrorist or terrorists nicknamed the Monster With 21 Faces haunted Japan, targeting sweets manufacturer Glico. They would kidnap the companys CEO and demand a 1 billion yen ransom (around $15 million dollars, today), failing only when the man managed to escape, which is actually a fairly comprehensive failure really. More worryingly, they would also poison shipments of the companys candy with cyanide, causing a massive product recall that would seriously damage the companys reputation and profit margins as well as result in the loss of around four hundred jobs. As the year went on, the Monster magnanimously forgave Glico for whatever crime it had committed only to target Glicos rivals Morinaga, as well as other food companies like Marudai Ham and House Food Corporation, extorting money in exchange for not poisoning their products. Lethal packaged food was actually found on market shelves this time, causing nationwide panic and really, really terrible sales of confectionary. By June, the Monster announced via its usual tongue-in-cheek media letter-drop that it would end all action against food corporations and the Japanese people in general in exchange for 50 million yen, twenty times less than theyd asked for a few months earlier, leaving investigators to speculate that perhaps the small island they intended to buy had been reduced in the summer sale. A money drop was arranged, but proved unsuccessful however, police believed that they had identified the Monsters bagman, a large, well-built man with eyes like a fox, that with devastating creativity they nicknamed The Fox-Eyed Man. This gentleman would continue to elude police, and the Monster proved no closer to being caught, until the police officer in charge of the hunt tapped out of the investigation in perhaps the most passive-aggressive way possible: committing suicide by setting fire to himself. At this point, the Monster wrote its final sarcastic letter to the media, referencing the mans death and saying that in tribute to his ultimate failure, they would forget about torturing food-making companies. He, or she, or they, or it signed off:
We are bad guys. That means we've got more to do other than bullying companies. It's fun to lead a bad man's life. Monster with 21 Faces.
The Monster was never heard from again, and no one was ever caught or charged for any crime relating to its activities.
Professional writer, punk werewolf and nesting place for starfish. Obsessed with squid, spirals and story. I publish short weird fiction online at desincarne.com, and tweet nonsense under the name Jack The Bodiless. You can follow me all you like, just don't touch my stuff.
