Meanwhile, at Kim Ah-young’s accommodation, a brief meeting with Park Min-sook was taking place.
“I thought Jungle’s value was impressive, but I was really surprised when Wall Street offered $100 million.”
“I didn’t expect it either. But if you look at Jungle’s growth right now, it keeps producing massive results in a short period. There’s even talk that Korea is changing because of Jungle these days.”
Kim Ah-young’s words, filled with affection for Lee Hyun-woo, were somewhat exaggerated.
So, Park Min-sook laughed inwardly.
‘It’s not to that extent. It’s just that Jungle was born in line with the trends of the time, and dot-com companies began to pop up like mushrooms after the rain. That’s why the related industry is flourishing.’
She only thought this to herself, outwardly expressing a different opinion.
“But if we stay like this, won’t we lose investments to other places right under our noses? The chairman wanted to participate in Jungle’s expansion into the U.S. somehow.”
“Right. I think I should subtly mention it to Hyun-woo tomorrow.”
In fact, she had already subtly mentioned it several times.
But Lee Hyun-woo had shown almost no reaction.
‘Well, we haven’t made any concrete proposals either.’
They had only expressed interest, but unlike the Natural Standard Fund, they had never mentioned a specific amount.
“I think I need to contact Father.”
“Um, the time now…”
Park Min-sook quickly looked at her wrist.
The clock pointed to 12 o’clock.
‘Come to think of it, it’s also time for me to contact the chairman.’
Chairman Kim Sung-moo had instructed daily contact, just like when they were in Japan, this time even in the U.S.
- Secretary Park, report to me if you’re back by midnight. Understood?
Upon hearing this, Park Min-sook observed Kim Sung-moo’s expression and confirmed one thing.
‘He must have guessed that Kim Ah-young and Lee Hyun-woo are dating.’
Park Min-sook quickly spoke up.
“I’ll contact him.”
“Director Park?”
“Yes, I think I can relay it to the chairman from the most objective perspective.”
“Oh… okay… then you do that.”
Kim Ah-young awkwardly smiled, vaguely understanding the meaning behind “the most objective perspective.”
Since they were practically in a romantic relationship, Kim Ah-young could have overestimated Jungle’s value.
‘But we haven’t even confessed to each other yet.’
Maybe it’s because it’s her first time dating?
Kim Ah-young felt uncertain about the current situation progressing without any clear confession between them.
‘Do others also go through this?’
She wasn’t sure.
But one thing was certain.
Lee Hyun-woo also had feelings for her.
Maybe he was feeling burdened by her background with Guseong.
‘That’s why his reaction has always been lukewarm when we mentioned investments.’
She thought that even if Park Min-sook contacted her father now and decided on an investment amount, Lee Hyun-woo might not accept it.
For some reason, based on what she had seen so far, Lee Hyun-woo seemed to want to date her on equal terms.
In other words, he seemed to want to continue their relationship without Guseong’s material help.
When they expanded into the Japanese market, they weren’t as close as they are now, so they accepted the investment, but now it’s different.
‘Is this why people say dating is hard?’
Even though she always felt close to Lee Hyun-woo, there were always one or two walls to overcome.
Time will solve it.
With this thought, Kim Ah-young tried to sleep.
Meanwhile, after leaving Kim Ah-young’s room, Park Min-sook contacted Chairman Kim Sung-moo and reported the current situation as it was.
($100 million?)
Kim Sung-moo’s voice grew louder.
He, too, seemed to find it surprising.
“Yes, $100 million. This is what the other party proposed, so we don’t know how much it could increase.”
(But they discussed this in front of you and Ah-young?)
“Ah, yes, that’s right.”
(Doesn’t that seem suspicious?)
“Sorry?”
(Could it be that they intentionally exposed it through a subordinate? Otherwise, they wouldn’t reveal such an important matter in front of outsiders.)
“It could be seen that way, but from what I have observed, CEO Lee Hyun-woo doesn’t seem like the kind of person who would resort to such schemes…”
(He might be aiming for exactly that.)
Was the amount too large to believe?
‘No matter how much I think about it, it doesn’t seem like it…’
Thinking this inwardly, Park Min-sook still didn’t cross the line.
He was in the position of a reporter, not someone tasked with persuasion.
Therefore, everything should be left to the chairman’s decision.
“Yes, we can’t rule out that possibility.”
(Alright, keep an eye on it. Let’s talk again tomorrow.)
“Yes, Chairman.”
Tomorrow…
‘It might be too late.’
It could be a situation where they end up being like a dog chasing a chicken, looking up at the roof after everything has been decided.
The next day, starting from the morning, Lee Hyun-woo began the full-scale “search engine selling.”
There were reservations made in advance from Korea, and after arriving in the U.S., his schedule was packed, leaving no time to rest until lunch.
At this time, Lee Jung-woo and Oh Min-woo had to stay by Lee Hyun-woo’s side.
The optimization costs of the search engine varied depending on the size of each company.
They needed technical advice on whether it was possible to do this.
“Wow… the morning schedule is over in the blink of an eye.”
“Yeah. How many did we meet?”
“Seven places. Not that many. It was finished because we coordinated it in advance.”
“There weren’t any big companies either.”
“Right. There weren’t any big ones.”
Listening to their conversation, Lee Hyun-woo could sense the disappointment in their voices.
They probably thought there would be some well-known companies among those requesting the search engine.
But there were only local media companies with some scale, so they couldn’t help but feel disappointed.
“Guys, you seem disappointed, but those who truly acknowledge us will approach us and propose something big.”
“But there isn’t any yet.”
“Yeah, there isn’t any yet.”
“Is that so?”
“What? Is there something?”
“No, but the CEO didn’t sell a voicemail separately, did he? The schedule was fully booked early on, so there are no more companies to meet.”
“I decided to meet someone for lunch with a big heart.”
“Huh?”
“So there is someone. Where is it?”
“Manager Oh, it’s a place you know. No, it was a place that contacted you initially.”
“Is it Yahoo?”
“What? Why them?”
“Some portal sites in our country are also asking if they can use our search engine.”
“That’s true, but only small ones. Yahoo has its own search engine.”
“That’s why they are asking because it’s incomparable to ours. Altavista, with its tradition and history, uses our search engine! Isn’t that proof of the superiority of our search engine?”
“Guys, stop writing novels.”
“…”
“…”
“The place that contacted Manager Oh isn’t even the biggest. There’s the Natural Standard Fund.”
For a moment, the two men’s eyes lit up.
However, their expressions showed that they couldn’t compare such a company to a place like Yahoo.
In fact, these young guys wouldn’t know the name of a fund company with such little experience.
“Is it a big place?”
“How big is it?”
“It’s one of the top 10 funds in the world, with assets under management of about $38 billion, which is roughly 34 trillion won in our currency.”
“34 trillion?!!!”
“Wow, that’s huge! It’s nothing compared to Yahoo!”
“It’s hard to make a simple comparison, but currently, the Natural Standard Fund has more money.”
“I passed it on to Team Leader Shin without knowing it.”
“Why did you do that?”
“But it might have worked out well. Because you, who know nothing, didn’t go, Team Leader Shin brought back a $100 million investor.”
“$100 million?!!!”
“Wow, what’s that about?”
“Yesterday, Team Leader Shin met with the fund manager there. So, Manager Oh, you let him go to the meeting you found annoying. And he came back and told me that they wanted to invest $100 million in our company, with a 20% share.”
“Is that good?”
“20% is too much, though?”
The reactions of Oh Min-woo and Lee Jung-woo were different.
One didn’t know anything, and the other was wary of an investor who might interfere with a 20% share.
Seeing their reactions, Lee Hyun-woo smiled and said,
“We have to meet them first. We need to gauge the atmosphere before deciding whether to accept the money or not. Don’t you agree?”
The meeting with Joe Murphy took place at the hotel restaurant where they were staying.
Both sides rented a room, with Lee Jung-woo, Oh Min-woo, and Shin Dong-woon from Jungle attending, and several people from the Natural Standard Fund also present.
As soon as the representatives from both companies met, they exchanged brief greetings and began to look at the leadership from both sides.
They were clearly expecting a full-fledged negotiation to take place.
Joe Murphy opened the conversation first.
“I’m not sure if I conveyed everything properly when I spoke hastily yesterday.”
“The key points are two things, aren’t they? The amount and the share.”
“Ah, yes. You understood it well.”
Although the message was well received, there was always room for interpretation.
Lee Hyun-woo intentionally added something that wasn’t there.
“Yes, we didn’t expect a fund company to come forward so proactively to invest in our U.S. expansion.”
In reality, it could be interpreted as giving the shares of the U.S. branch, not the headquarters of Jungle.
Joe Murphy pretended not to understand and continued,
“Haha… I’m confident that Jungle will create a new wave in the information and communication industry if it expands to the U.S. following Japan. There’s no reason to hesitate to invest in Jungle.”
“That’s true. Our Jungle search engine is currently installed on Altavista, and starting next week, keyword advertising will be implemented, generating significant revenue.”
“Ah, Altavista seems to be introducing a new type of advertisement.”
“Yes, that’s right. And we were thinking of coordinating our U.S. expansion timing based on that.”
Joe Murphy didn’t know yet what keyword advertising was.
But he was well aware that Jungle’s content and revenue models had never failed so far, so he had high expectations.
However, one thing kept bothering him.
He felt he needed to clarify it.
“But do you understand that our investment scope covers the entire Jungle? It sounds like you’re only talking about the U.S. branch.”
Lee Hyun-woo was a person full of cunning.
Smiling broadly, he responded,
“If you want to invest in the entire company, that amount is insufficient. Or you could significantly lower the share.”
“……”
For a moment, Joe Murphy’s eyes wavered rapidly.
