After being away from Korea for a while, guests kept coming one after another.
This time, it was Jung Ji-hoon, a key talent of 【Alpha Cast】 and a senior from university.
“Wow, Ji-hoon hyung. Long time no see. I was just thinking about you.”
“Really?”
“Of course. I was wondering when I’d get to see you, and here you are. It’s like telepathy.”
The story was made up.
But Lee Hyun-woo knew well that saying something like this would make the other person feel good.
Hearing such sweet words, Jung Ji-hoon smiled brightly.
“Hahaha, it feels good that the most famous entrepreneur in our country wanted to meet me.”
“But I genuinely wanted to meet you, hyung. Why did you come to see me?”
Lee Hyun-woo was curious about the reason why Jung Ji-hoon had come, especially since it was during working hours.
Because Jung Ji-hoon worked at 【Alpha Cast】.
‘Could it be related to MP3?’
He guessed correctly.
“The contract manufacturing has finally started. We might be able to supply 【Jungle】 with more quantities as we secure more stock. But we can’t allocate everything, so I was told to come and explain it to you directly.”
“By CEO Jung?”
“Yes, our CEO values human relationships. Even if it wasn’t for that, I couldn’t overlook you. By the way, our CEO went on a business trip to Japan today, so I came instead.”
Lee Hyun-woo’s pupils slightly widened.
“A trip to Japan?”
“You know 【Jungle】 is there too. They say they will start a shopping mall soon. And you know the place in Tokyo that’s like our Seun Sangga or Yongsan? He went to supply there too.”
“Wow, the production capacity of the contract manufacturer must be no joke.”
“Initially, we started with two places, but as sales picked up, we kept increasing.”
“Well done. Now we just need to keep selling to the U.S. and Europe after Japan.”
“We need to prepare the next model soon. Actually, the planning is already done.”
“I hope you discuss that with us.”
“We were planning to do that anyway. Yoo-chul already called.”
“Really?”
“Yes, he called late last night. He said there was something he discussed with you and even sent an email.”
Lee Hyun-woo knew well what that was about.
It was about putting a lock on MP3 files due to the flood of P2P services.
Though the term “lock” was a metaphor, it was easy to understand.
So, Lee Hyun-woo brought it up right away.
“If we lock MP3 files, it’s beneficial for everyone.”
“Exactly. It’s good for us and it protects intellectual property rights.”
“In that sense, hyung, should we meet Professor Geum Sang-joon together?”
“What?”
“He’s coming soon. He said he can’t miss visiting our company as the Director of the Ministry of Science and Technology.”
“Ah…”
Jung Ji-hoon nodded and exclaimed.
Then he said,
“Actually, I visited Professor Geum Sang-joon on Teacher’s Day this year.”
“Did you?”
“Yes, he really wants to see you. You were like a star at our school.”
“Oh, come on, I wasn’t that special.”
“No need to be humble. Every professor praised you. Most of them wanted you to stay in academia, but you made an excellent choice by entering the business world. You became a super entrepreneur changing Korea.”
“It’s embarrassing. That’s enough. The reason I suggested meeting the professor is because of the intellectual property rights issue. It would be better to discuss it together rather than me explaining it alone.”
“Okay. Sounds good.”
Jung Ji-hoon readily agreed.
A few days later, when Professor Geum Sang-joon finally visited 【Jungle】, Lee Hyun-woo welcomed him together with Jung Ji-hoon.
In the CEO’s office at 【Jungle】, Professor Geum Sang-joon looked at his two students with a satisfied smile.
“I was so excited to see Ji-hoon too.”
“Oh, don’t lie. You really wanted to see Hyun-woo.”
Strictly speaking, Professor Geum Sang-joon’s favorite student was Jung Ji-hoon.
Because he frequently interacted with the professor while serving as class representative and student council president.
That’s why they could converse without formality.
“Do I have to talk about not having a favorite among the ten fingers again?”
“Yes, I understand. If I say more, I’ll end up being a rude student.”
“Seriously. I have a secret to tell you in your current positions.”
“A secret?”
“Yes. I briefly mentioned it to Hyun-woo before, but several government departments were hacked recently.”
“……!”
Jung Ji-hoon looked at Lee Hyun-woo in shock.
Then Lee Hyun-woo calmly said to Professor Geum Sang-joon,
“There’s a capable employee here, I’ll send him over later.”
“Oh, thank goodness.”
“How can you say thank goodness when we don’t even know if we can stop it?”
“【Jungle】 has never been breached, right? That’s trustworthy.”
Lee Hyun-woo smiled.
Even if he didn’t know much else, he trusted Oh Min-woo, who had been responsible for the company’s security from the start.
“I also have one suggestion.”
“Go ahead.”
“Both hyung and I are very concerned about intellectual property rights. You may not know, but MP3 files are frequently uploaded to blogs and cafes recently. Downloading them directly costs money, but sharing them like that increasingly harms copyright holders and our service providers.”
“Ah… I understand. We’re currently drafting related legislation. Initially, we didn’t think about MP3 files, but recently there have been frequent disputes between tech companies. While considering patents, we decided to bundle intellectual property rights together in a law.”
“So, I didn’t need to mention it then.”
“No, because you mentioned it, we can refine it with more care.”
At this point, Jung Ji-hoon chimed in.
“How about meeting regularly, considering it’s mutually beneficial? For example, let’s gather more people from the information and communications field for forums or seminars.”
“That’s a good idea. We need to prepare next year’s budget anyway. The Ministry of Finance finally recognized the importance of the information and communications industry and said they would support it as much as possible.”
“That’s good news.”
“The issue is distinguishing the good from the bad. We can’t just give the budget to anyone. There will be side effects.”
That was true.
Lee Hyun-woo, having experienced such times in his previous life, understood Professor Geum Sang-joon’s words deeply.
‘Government budgets had the advantage of driving the venture business era, but there were significant side effects too.’
The side effects were caused by people who would stop at nothing to get their hands on the government’s blind money.
While it’s impossible to completely prevent side effects, they can be minimized.
Discussing intellectual property infringement and strengthening patent laws today might have improved things a bit, right?
Similarly, forums or seminars suggested during their conversation seemed like a good way to select quality information and communication companies.
So, he said,
“Coincidentally, there’s a 21st-century venture company association meeting centered around 【Jungle】.”
“Oh, I heard about that. Didn’t an American fund company come and sweep up investments?”
“News travels fast.”
“The companies that received investments bragged about it.”
“Then how about expanding the forum and seminar into a larger information and communications company market?”
“What’s that?”
“It’s simple. It’s a venue where investors and entrepreneurs can meet. The investors would include the government.”
“I agree with Hyun-woo. Honestly, I was thrilled to hear about many companies receiving investments from foreign funds recently. It felt like our country’s industry was rapidly shifting towards information and communications.”
Professor Geum Sang-joon nodded at his two students’ suggestions.
“It’s not a bad idea. Okay, let’s push for it. Do I need to meet the ministers until my feet are sore again?”
“If you do, that would be great. I’ll also try to gather some investors.”
“You, Hyun-woo?”
“Yes, if I inform the U.S. and Japan regularly about such markets, people might come.”
In fact, recently, foreign capital from the U.S. and Japan had been increasing investments in domestic information and communication companies.
Even if a foreign exchange crisis hits, Lee Hyun-woo predicted that the damage would be significantly less than in his previous life because of this.
“And our company should also become an investor. We want to invest in good companies.”
“Actually, our company grew because of Hyun-woo’s investment. As far as I know, there are a few other companies he’s invested in too. Oh, we’re also considering investments.”
“Goodness… They say the student surpasses the teacher; you’re both much better than I am.”
“Oh, come on, that’s not true.”
“We still have a long way to go.”
Lee Hyun-woo and Jung Ji-hoon smiled modestly.
They looked at each other simultaneously.
‘Thank you for growing so well.’
‘Thanks to you, I’m making a living.’
Perhaps the most rewarding thing Lee Hyun-woo did after returning to the past was protecting 【Alpha Cast】, which first made MP3 players.
‘It would be nice if there were more cases like this.’
Such cases where 【Jungle】 invested in 【Alpha Cast】 and the grown 【Alpha Cast】 invested in other companies.
This is the genuine trickle-down effect.
‘Come to think of it, our company also grew because of support, which is almost like investment.’
Suddenly, that person came to mind.
This was why he visited Kim Yoon-soo after work that day.
“Oh, it’s been a while, my little brother. You’re so famous now.”
Kim Yoon-soo always greeted him with a kind face, making Lee Hyun-woo smile naturally.
They were at the pork belly restaurant they often visited.
Watching the sizzling pork belly, Lee Hyun-woo offered a drink and said,
“Thank you for helping me become famous.”
“There you go again. You grew up on your own. Did I raise you?”
“Still, thank you.”
“Enough, let’s drink to that.”
“Yes, hyung. Cheers!”
“Cheers!”
They gulped down soju deeply and let out a satisfying exclamation.
Then Kim Yoon-soo spoke again.
“Honestly, if I had heard about the investment in 【Jungle】 in the very early days, I would have felt even better. What would it have been like if I had invested back then? My father talks about it every day.”
“Oh, but hyung, your company is growing tremendously. Your father can probably recover his investment soon.”
“That’s true. Plus, you’ve been giving me so much helpful advice.”
Recently, Lee Hyun-woo had subtly informed Kim Yoon-soo that it was time to increase computer production.
He had confirmed information that a new version of Windows would be released by the end of the year.
“By the way, is what you told me about Windows a secret?”
“Just don’t mention the source. Why?”
“I plan to inform other computer companies.”
“Hyung, you’re too nice. Should I call you naive?”
“Just call me a pushover. But what can I do? That’s how I am.”
“You’re really different from your father.”
“Yes, I’m different from my brother too. When I told him, he started investigating to invest in other computer manufacturers.”
“……”
Hearing that, Lee Hyun-woo looked at Kim Yoon-soo curiously.
“How much money does your father have?”
“Oh, but this time, it’s not just my father’s money.”
“Then?”
“This is a secret…”
Kim Yoon-soo lowered his voice suddenly.
“Because of the real-name financial system, there’s a lot of money buried in our country’s underground finance. I think quite a bit will be invested in the information and communication industry going forward.”
“……!”
