Lee Jung-woo didn’t stop there; he sent a text message as he left his father’s company.
- Sister-in-law, thank you. I think this matter is a win-win for my father, my brother, and you.
Of course, the message was sent to Kim Ah-young.
A reply came right away.
Oh? How did you know?
I met Choi Sun-hwa.
Ah, I see. I must have forgotten to tell her not to say anything. I forgot to keep her quiet, so it reached your ears.
Don’t worry. I made sure to keep it quiet. As long as I stay silent and my father doesn’t say anything, my brother won’t know.
Yes, thank you. I’ll treat you to something delicious later.
Thanks in advance.
He felt good for no particular reason.
It was because Kim Ah-young’s thoughtfulness seemed so genuine.
‘My brother is a lucky man.’
But thinking about it, he deserved it.
He started the business with nothing and grew it tremendously in just over a year.
Recently, domestic sales alone have exceeded tens of billions of won per month.
With a high operating profit structure, money must be piling up in the bank account like a mountain.
This was just considering the domestic market.
From what he heard, the sales speed of [Jungle Japan] was even more impressive.
It seemed to be a phenomenon because the advertising market in Japan was larger than in Korea.
So what would happen if [Jungle USA] were established in the United States?
‘Sigh, I can’t even imagine.’
As the flow of consciousness reached that point, a pleasant sigh and a smile spread across his lips.
‘Brother, let’s be happy. I’ll support you well from the side.’
Unaware that his younger brother and father were hiding this, Lee Hyun-woo focused on [Aejeong Apparel].
Of course, it was through Han Se-jin rather than directly.
“Plan another collaboration.”
“Oh, yes, with whom…?”
“This time, let’s go with fashion.”
“Fashion? Is that possible? Oh! Yes, I understand!”
Han Se-jin expressed doubt as it didn’t immediately make sense to him, but he corrected himself in less than 0.1 seconds.
Honestly, has anything Lee Hyun-woo suggested ever failed?
“I’ll submit the planning proposal right away.”
“I haven’t even told you with whom yet?”
“Oh, right. Yes, with whom are you planning to do it?”
“With [Aejeong Apparel].”
“……Yes! I understand! I’ll contact the person in charge there and propose the collaboration right away.”
Although he hesitated for a moment again, Han Se-jin quickly answered and got up from his seat.
Watching this, Lee Hyun-woo chuckled.
‘Come to think of it, a fashion mall hasn’t been created yet.’
Originally, fashion malls started with the three major department stores among the retail giants in the past life.
Then they flourished through electronic commerce platforms and the 1st and 2nd generation open markets.
Later, they grew centered around internet SOHO businesses,
‘The past and the present don’t have to be exactly the same.’
Isn’t the situation already quite different?
It was necessary to watch how this would change.
There were already many new sprouts that grew as they pleased from the seeds Lee Hyun-woo had sown.
Overall, the internet ecosystem was like that.
It’s hard to say that the rapid deployment of ADSL in the United States and Japan had nothing to do with Lee Hyun-woo’s influence.
No, it had a significant impact.
Even on this day, Joe Murphy contacted him in the late afternoon.
(Next week, [Jungle USA] will launch. So I contacted you.)
The context implied that he should come to the United States once.
However, Lee Hyun-woo shook his head inwardly and politely declined out loud.
“I’d like to go, but I’ll observe from Korea.”
It was because he felt that too much time was being taken away by frequent business trips abroad.
‘It will do well even without me going.’
Initially, it would benefit greatly from the launch buzz.
As [AltaVista] changed to [Jungle USA], a lot of new content would be added, all of which had been verified in Korea.
Of course, there were things that couldn’t start yet due to speed.
Music was a prime example, and he planned to offer new services once ADSL was widely deployed.
(Understood. Then I’ll gather the good news and tell you all at once when I come to Korea.)
“Yes, let’s do that.”
What was the good news here?
Of course, it would be the number of portal site users and advertising revenue.
‘I think we’ll see great success in keyword advertising.’
Banner ads have limited space, which restricts revenue.
However, keywords are unlimited.
Already in Korea, keyword advertising was doing quite well.
Inquiries about keyword advertising were pouring in almost every day.
Around the time of leaving work, Lee Hyun-woo called his secretary Yoo Jin-young and asked casually.
“Are there many inquiries about keyword advertising these days?”
“Yes, Team Leader Jeong says it’s overwhelming.”
The Team Leader Jeong she was referring to was Jeong Joo-hee.
Jeong Joo-hee, who had joined on her recommendation, was leading Jungle’s customer communication team.
Most customer calls were handled there, but at some point, they also took on advertising inquiries.
“To the extent that we need to hire more people?”
“I’m not sure about that…”
“If it seems like there are difficulties in that area, please comfort them and ask them to hold on. We’ll be moving to a 10-story building soon.”
“Oh, yes… I understand.”
After visiting a real estate agency recently, Lee Hyun-woo had signed a lease contract for a 10-story building in less than a day.
Due to the rapidly increasing number of employees, the contract couldn’t be delayed.
So, internal construction had started recently, and soon they would have a new 10-story space.
Half of the people here would probably move there.
One of them was the customer communication team.
‘The growth of our company is truly endless.’
It’s more strange not to grow when everything he touches turns to gold.
The next day, Choi Sun-hwa called.
(Hello?)
“Wow… It’s been a while.”
(Of course, it has. You’ve been cleverly avoiding me.)
“What are you talking about? Why would I avoid you?”
(If not, how would you explain sending your brother to meet me and having Han Se-jin handle the collaboration with [Aejeong Apparel]?)
“Jung-woo said he would meet you himself. And I had Team Leader Han handle it because you weren’t overseeing [Aejeong Apparel]’s work. But if you feel bad about it, I’ll buy you something delicious.”
(I was expecting that, so I’m heading to your company now.)
“What?”
(I’ll be there soon, so prepare your money. I’m going to eat something really expensive, got it?)
“Geez…”
Lee Hyun-woo grumbled and hung up the phone.
Then he got up and went down to the underground parking lot.
It was almost lunchtime anyway.
Since he owed her a favor, he should treat Choi Sun-hwa to some fine dining.
‘But what should I buy her to get praised for doing well?’
Before he could even pick a menu in his head, he heard the sound of a car.
Then a luxury mid-sized car stopped in front of Lee Hyun-woo, and the window rolled down.
“Hey, get in!”
The shout of “Get in!” that was so popular among the “Orange Tribe” or “Yatta Tribe” a few years ago came from Choi Sun-hwa.
Lee Hyun-woo chuckled, opened the door, and sat in the passenger seat.
“Nice car.”
“Thanks to you. I just got it.”
“Don’t mention it.”
“Cosmetics are selling like crazy. So it’s all thanks to you. Oh, and thanks in advance, the clothes will sell well too, right?”
“I don’t know about that.”
“I’m sure they’ll sell well. Absolutely. In that sense, I’ll buy lunch today.”
“Now what’s this? Why are you going back and forth?”
“It’s just, I think the fashion business we worked on together this time will do really well. Anyway, since the conversation is getting long, let’s go.”
Choi Sun-hwa kindly signaled and moved the car, even though she could have just stepped on the accelerator.
Wondering where they were going, the destination was soon revealed.
“I think a familiar place would be good, how about the restaurant area at [Aejeong Department Store]?”
“Good. I’ll have black bean noodles.”
“Hey, I’ll buy you something expensive instead of black bean noodles.”
“I just suddenly crave them.”
“Geez…”
“Why? Do you have a favor to ask? Is there a reason I need to eat something expensive?”
“Of course.”
“What is it?”
“I’ll tell you when we get there. Let’s talk about something else on the way.”
They mostly talked about work when they met, so Lee Hyun-woo was trying to change the subject.
“Okay. How about talking about the concert? We need to do it right this August.”
It ended up being a work-related conversation.
Choi Sun-hwa shook her head from side to side, showing a can’t-be-helped expression.
But what could she do?
Lee Hyun-woo was interested in the concert.
Changing locations changes the topic of conversation.
The two, who had been talking about the concert all the way there, began discussing serious business matters after ordering at the Chinese restaurant.
To be more precise, Choi Sun-hwa had a favor to ask of Lee Hyun-woo.
“Yesterday, I talked with [Aejeong Apparel] about the clothes your company proposed.”
“Did you? But I haven’t received any specific details from Team Leader Han yet.”
“You can learn about that later. What I want to ask you is about the online shopping mall.”
Lee Hyun-woo’s eyes widened slightly.
From her tone, ‘online shopping mall = online fashion mall’ came to mind.
Indeed, Choi Sun-hwa brought up that topic.
“Really, just before going to bed, the idea of an online shopping mall specializing only in clothing came to my mind. But considering that your friend is already planning to sell clothes in a shopping mall, I was worried I might be taking away from that…”
“Absolutely not.”
“Really?”
“You’re absolutely not taking away anything. It’s not a bad idea. The online fashion mall, I mean. I think it’s worth a try.”
“Really?”
“Of course.”
Lee Hyun-woo smiled broadly.
‘This is historically accurate.’
The online fashion malls started by major department stores in Korea.
Among them, [Elo Department Store] was the first, followed by [New World Department Store] and [Daehyun Department Store].
Although this time it was also a major department store starting it, it was [Aejeong Department Store], which was at the bottom of the rankings,
“If you’re going to start, you should aim to dominate the industry. Got it?”
All he could do was cheer her on.
“I feel a bit relieved. I was unnecessarily worried…”
“Don’t be. Oh, while you’re at it, talk to Team Leader Han and get help from our developers.”
“Oh? Is that okay?”
“But don’t forget to use our company’s search engine and cloud services.”
“Of course.”
Any type of online shopping mall needs the support of a search engine and cloud services to thrive.
These days, several companies were entering the search engine and cloud market, so Lee Hyun-woo was securing customers once more.
Moreover, if Jungle’s developers could create a fashion mall quickly with an outsourcing company, it wouldn’t take too long.
‘This might set the standard for online fashion malls in our country.’
