Curiosity about Lee Hyun-woo was growing in Kim Sung-moo’s mind as he kept hearing his son’s voice.
“Ah, CEO Lee said he respects you the most.”
Did that young man really say such a thing?
Not feeling bad about it, Kim Sung-moo let out an awkward cough.
“Ahem, ahem.”
“When I mentioned your sense of crisis, he said you have amazing foresight.”
How embarrassing.
Kim Sung-moo quickly changed the subject.
“What kind of person is he?”
“He’s got a good character. His words and actions aren’t frivolous, but he’s not always quiet either. He expresses himself clearly. I’m sure you’ll like him when you meet him.”
“Since we’re talking about it, I think I should see him soon.”
This time, Kim Tae-hyun’s eyebrows raised.
He had just thrown it out there, not expecting his father to react so quickly.
“Should I arrange a meeting?”
“Not now. Since you see him often, let’s keep an eye on him a bit more.”
“Yes, Father.”
Kim Sung-moo suppressed his desire to meet Lee Hyun-woo.
He thought it would be better to let the younger generation build a closer relationship first.
For once, he smiled warmly in front of his son.
“It looks like this kid is finally hanging out with the right people.”
Most of his son’s friends were second and third-generation chaebols with a bit of a wild streak.
He had thought they were birds of a feather, but as the head of Guseong Group, it was awkward to interfere in personal relationships.
However, after registering him as a director in the company, he began to intervene.
Thinking it was a mistake to assume he would naturally inherit the company.
He warned that if he didn’t behave properly and neglected the company, there would be special measures.
Because those he associated with were so bad, he couldn’t help but say it.
“But now he’s meeting young talents who discuss the future and share a sense of crisis.”
Kim Sung-moo couldn’t help but feel satisfied.
He started to feel a genuine liking for Lee Hyun-woo.
That night, Kim Sung-moo quietly sat at his computer and opened a portal site called 【Jungle】.
The area already had ADSL installed.
It was the first region in Korea to commercialize it, so there were no issues with connection.
As soon as the site opened, various data caught his eye.
Among them, the newly updated search rankings naturally drew his attention.
“Hmm, it gets more interesting by the day.”
It seemed they had quite a few servers to run this.
Now that he thought of it, he remembered something his son had mentioned recently.
That the server market would become very promising in the future.
He had hurriedly told his son to go ahead and produce higher-spec servers.
“I heard the demand for the new server we recently launched is very high.”
Perhaps his son had predicted the demand for high-spec servers while associating with Lee Hyun-woo of 【Jungle】?
Thinking that who one associates with can make a huge difference, he moved the cursor to the search bar.
He was curious about how much data this portal site could find with just one search term.
What stuck in his mind most was today’s conversation with his son.
― 【Bohan Group】
When he pressed Enter, a series of articles came up, but…
“Huh? What are these related search terms?”
Several words under ‘related search terms’ caught his eye.
One of them stood out.
“Nostradamus…”
Both his son and his brother-in-law, the owner of 【Sejong Daily】, had mentioned the name several times, and there it was in the related search terms.
Out of curiosity, Kim Sung-moo had once entered Nostradamus’s blog and was surprised.
With just a few keywords, Nostradamus had predicted the future so well that it gave him chills.
He personally thought Nostradamus might have come from the economic research labs of some groups.
“Shall I see what he’s written recently?”
When he entered Nostradamus’s blog today, he thought he might need to revise his thinking.
― Predictions by Country for 1997
【Japan】
Financial reforms will occur to allow large corporations to enter the banking, securities, and insurance sectors.
Specifically, it will allow financial holding companies, limit fiscal deficits to 3% of GDP, liberalize foreign exchange transactions, etc. …(snip)…
The reason for focusing on Japan first is simple.
Last year, while covering the U.S., I mentioned the crisis that the ‘strong dollar’ would bring.
As the world becomes smaller with the development of transportation and communication, the influence between countries is increasing day by day, and the ‘strong dollar’ is finally bringing a crisis to our country.
As evidence, the chaebol groups like 【Bohan】 can be mentioned.
These groups have been using short-term foreign debt, significantly increasing the likelihood of financial or currency crises.
Now, by dealing with Japan, we can predict how a financial or currency crisis might unfold.
…(snip)…
Nostradamus seemed to be trying to make it easy to understand, but few people would probably grasp the content.
However, Kim Sung-moo understood it effortlessly.
Because he had known for a long time that the Japanese government would reform its finance.
“But the opposition is strong, so it will be hard to implement.”
He wasn’t sure about the other points, but if they liberalized foreign exchange transactions and limited fiscal deficits to 3% of GDP, it would bring significant aftershocks to many developing countries in Asia, including Korea.
As more people sought to buy Japanese yen, the currencies of each country would depreciate.
Since the U.S. had already declared a strong dollar policy, this phenomenon would worsen.
“No way, this won’t happen, right?”
Kim Sung-moo thought Nostradamus had gotten it wrong this time.
After all, if someone could keep predicting what even economists couldn’t, they would be a god, not a person.
However, the event actually happened.
A few days later, information that the Japanese government had started discussing five major tasks for financial reform reached Kim Sung-moo.
As soon as he received this information, he immediately contacted his son.
“You need to arrange a time with the CEO of 【Jungle】 soon.”
Lee Hyun-woo was actively considering using Nostradamus’s blog to capture the atmosphere of the looming financial crisis.
Not long ago, he had posted about Japan, and today he posted about Germany in his office.
He mentioned the privatization of 【Deutschland Telekom】.
“Sometimes you have to throw opportunities amidst crises.”
There was a need to inform the public about the rapid changes in the global information and communication industry.
Although he wasn’t sure how much interest it would garner, a massive number of people visited Nostradamus’s blog.
Even now, the view count was rapidly increasing right after posting.
If the phone hadn’t rung, he would have continued checking.
“Hello.”
(Hey, it’s me.)
“Oh, hyung?”
(You need to make some time soon.)
“Why? Do you miss me?”
(I am quite fond of you. But our father wants to arrange a meeting with you.)
“……!”
An exclamation mark appeared in Lee Hyun-woo’s eyes.
He had thrown the bait to the successor, but it was the higher-ups who took it.
Although he had thought they would meet eventually, he hadn’t expected it to be this soon.
“Could it be that the head of 【Guseong Group】 also reads Nostradamus’s blog?”
It was possible.
Most chaebol heads strive to stay ahead of the times.
Especially the head of 【Guseong Group】, who would naturally be confident in the brilliant growth of the information and communication industry and would have checked out internet-based content like portal sites to not fall behind.
If so…
“Why does he want to meet me?”
(Why? Don’t you want to meet him?)
“It’s not that, I just think I need to prepare a bit. If I make a mistake in front of someone I respect, what will I do?”
(Actually, I suggested it this time.)
“Hyung did?”
(Yes, I felt that our father should definitely meet you.)
He must have shared the conversation they had previously.
Thinking this, Lee Hyun-woo quickly replied.
“Got it. How about tomorrow evening?”
(Okay, I’ll let him know.)
Later, near the end of the workday, Kim Tae-hyun called again and told him to come to the house the next evening.
The house, of course, was the residence of the head of 【Guseong Group】.
The news soon reached Park Min-sook’s ears, and naturally, she reported it to Kim Ah-young.
“The chairman must have sensed something. Otherwise, he wouldn’t call CEO Lee directly to the house.”
Listening to Park Min-sook’s somewhat flustered voice, Kim Ah-young felt equally unsettled.
What does it mean that he sensed something?
Does it mean he discovered that she has excessive fondness for Lee Hyun-woo?
“But we aren’t anything yet.”
“That’s why he wants to call CEO Lee early to warn him. To treat your interest as just business. Or maybe tell him to stop meeting you altogether.”
“So… what should I do?”
“There’s no immediate solution. We can’t directly tell CEO Lee the situation. Or should we subtly let him know?”
“How would we do that?”
“Maybe tell him not to misunderstand if the chairman makes assumptions…”
Even while advising, she felt this wasn’t right.
The current situation where the chairman called Lee Hyun-woo to the house was causing both of them mental panic.
No clear countermeasure was visible.
In the end, all that was left was to watch the meeting between Kim Sung-moo and Lee Hyun-woo from the sidelines.
Perhaps that’s why Kim Ah-young spent the night wide awake.
She resisted the urge to call Lee Hyun-woo several times during the night.
What could she say in this situation where they weren’t even in a relationship?
Finally, the next morning arrived.
Just like usual, she sat at the dining table with her two younger sisters for breakfast when her father’s gentle voice and kind expression flowed out.
“Girls, we have a guest coming tonight, so can you all come home early?”
“A guest? Who is it?”
The second daughter, Kim Ah-jin, asked.
She was three years younger than Kim Ah-young.
In response to this question, Kim Sung-moo smiled again and replied.
“Ah-young should know well. It’s Lee Hyun-woo, the CEO of 【Jungle】. You said you were investing in their expansion into Japan, didn’t you?”
“Ah, yes…”
“What? Lee Hyun-woo of 【Jungle】? Really? Really, Dad?”
The youngest, Kim Na-yoon, who was very playful, widened her eyes with curiosity.
“That’s right. He’s a very decent young man. Promising and close to your brother too. I want to introduce him to all of you, so don’t think about skipping it. Got it?”
At that moment, Kim Ah-young blinked several times and thought.
“So he didn’t find out. But Dad has a very positive view of Hyun-woo.”
She felt inexplicably happy.
