This means that he has almost made up his mind.
‘First, we need to limit the items. Not tapes, but CDs.’
This is a choice considering volume and price.
The problem was the timing.
Would they really listen if we just went to 【Nine Sound】 and told them that we want to sell records?
Of course, we need to bring evidence that they can sell well.
“Is the reservation for Shin Sung-hoon’s live tickets starting today?”
“Yes, that’s correct.”
“Then check the status and print it out for me.”
The office moved quickly following Lee Hyun-woo’s instructions.
But then.
“Huh?”
“Huh?”
Jang Yoo-chul and Lee Jung-woo, checking their respective computers, both exclaimed in surprise.
It didn’t seem like a bad kind of surprise.
“Sold out!”
“Sold out!”
“……!”
Hearing their exclamations, Lee Hyun-woo was also surprised.
“It hasn’t been long since we posted it, right?”
“It’s been just over an hour.”
“It seems 200 tickets were too few.”
Lee Hyun-woo’s expression brightened.
‘With this level of response, we can emphasize our ability to sell records to 【Nine Sound】.’
Although he wasn’t sure about other things, he was confident he could show what the power of 【Jungle】 was.
With this determination, he went back to 【Nine Sound】.
As soon as he saw Lee Hyun-woo, Hong Dong-wook, the head of the PR team, exclaimed with admiration.
“I just checked the 【Jungle】 site. I wanted to see the response since the reservations started today.”
“……”
“Wow, it’s amazing! The tickets sold out in an instant. Seeing the word ‘sold out’ for the last 200 tickets gave me chills.”
This seemed to make things easier.
Various negotiation scenarios were suddenly popping into Lee Hyun-woo’s mind.
First, the tickets.
“Would it be difficult to sell additional tickets?”
“Oh, so you came because of that… Unfortunately, another company is handling the sales.”
“Oh…”
“I hope you understand. We’ve been dealing with them for a long time, so we can’t suddenly reduce their ticket allocation.”
“Yes, I understand.”
“I will allocate more tickets next time.”
Previously, it was Lee Hyun-woo who mentioned ‘next time,’ but this time Hong Dong-wook mentioned it first.
At this point, Lee Hyun-woo brought up his original purpose.
“Is a live album going to be released for Shin Sung-hoon’s concert?”
“Yes, of course.”
At this time, it was quite common for live albums of famous artists’ concerts to be released.
“If so, how about selling that album on our site?”
“Huh?”
Hong Dong-wook let out the same exclamation that Lee Jung-woo and Jang Yoo-chul had earlier.
It meant he found it very interesting.
Riding the momentum, Lee Hyun-woo continued to pitch his idea.
“You saw how the tickets sold out. I believe the live album is also a highly promising item.”
“That makes sense. Wait a moment. The CEO is here, so I’ll go ask him.”
“Yes.”
With those words, Hong Dong-wook hurriedly got up and left the room.
When he returned, his expression made it clear what the answer was.
“We need to discuss it with the record company and distributor, but we are very positive about online sales.”
“Then…”
“Let’s proceed right away.”
Lee Hyun-woo cheered inside.
Then he immediately started negotiating the price based on the order quantity.
Even for a singer who sells over a million copies, a live album couldn’t achieve the same record.
Moreover, selling CDs online was still a question mark at that time.
So there was no way that 【Nine Sound】 would refuse the diversification of sales channels.
By the time the negotiation was about to conclude, Hong Dong-wook’s final words reached Lee Hyun-woo’s ears.
“6,000 won for 10,000 CDs priced at 10,000 won each. How does that sound?”
Lee Hyun-woo had a habit of bargaining.
And this time was no different.
“If we sell all 10,000 and order an additional 10,000, could you adjust the price to 5,900 won?”
He looked at the future, not the present.
Lee Hyun-woo returned to the company without a moment to breathe and informed everyone about the deal.
“10,000 copies…”
“Why? Does it seem difficult?”
“No, I think the price is important. How much profit are you aiming for?”
Lee Hyun-woo responded with a meaningful smile to his brother’s question.
“It doesn’t matter even if it’s zero.”
“What?”
“It’s okay to make zero profit initially.”
“Zero profit?”
“We’ll cover half of the shipping cost.”
“What? So, including the shipping cost, how much are you planning to sell it for?”
“Of course, 8,000 won.”
Upon investigation, the shipping cost was 2,000 won per copy.
So why set the price at 8,000 won when they could sell it for about 7,000 won after covering half of the shipping cost?
“We’ll probably need to hire part-time workers. You know that, right?”
“Oh…”
That included the cost of shipping envelopes and labor for simple tasks.
When calculated, it wasn’t exactly zero profit.
But it wasn’t a significant loss either.
The reason to proceed was as follows.
“Let’s not aim for huge profits from the first concert tickets and CDs. Let’s be satisfied with just promoting our 【Jungle】 site. Got it?”
That was the key point.
Anyway, the computer market was growing, and the products sold on 【Jungle】 were no joke.
Even a simple calculation of the computers selling like hotcakes showed that monthly profits exceeded 10 million won.
“Don’t you think it’s a very reasonable investment for diversifying our product range and popularizing online shopping?”
“Yes, and if this method lands smoothly, it will probably make it easier to approach other artists’ concerts and CD sales in the future.”
If this method became more active than Lee Hyun-woo expected, wouldn’t the large-scale sale of tickets and CDs come sooner?
‘When that time comes, I’ll need to rent a warehouse.’
Thinking this far made him feel slightly breathless.
It was inevitable.
Starting the business at his home and expanding to an office in Yongsan.
Then running online auctions and online shopping simultaneously, helping the growth of nearby 【One Computer】, and running around to incorporate other computers and electronics into the site.
Nowadays, he spent his days busy with concert tickets and records.
‘Oh man… How is this different from my past life?’
Various thoughts crossed Lee Hyun-woo’s mind, feeling like he had returned to a workaholic life.
The scenes that replayed briefly were of him working endlessly.
Compared to recent days, those scenes often overlapped.
Lately, he often worked past the usual working hours, so it was inevitable.
He felt a black curtain drawing down.
‘If I’m not careful, I might spend this life working just like the last one.’
No matter how good money and rapid growth were, could they be exchanged for dying early from overwork?
Lee Hyun-woo gently shook his head.
‘I can’t do this. I need to pull myself away from work.’
Whenever he felt like this, he decided to remind himself of one ironclad rule.
Don’t forget, this life is about work-life balance.
Time passed again.
And two days before Shin Sung-hoon’s concert.
Lee Hyun-woo made a bombshell announcement during a meeting.
“Keep your schedules open for 7 PM the day after tomorrow.”
“What?”
“What?”
“Why?”
“……?”
“We’re going to Shin Sung-hoon’s concert. I’ve secured five tickets.”
Everyone was speechless at the sudden news.
But Lee Hyun-woo had planned this himself a few days ago.
He decided to give not only himself but also his employees some leisure time while working.
It might have been a decision influenced by his death from overwork.
Additionally, since he was earning more and faster than expected, he thought, why not be generous in his second life?
“Instead, it will be considered overtime, and I will include 1.5 times the regular pay in your salary.”
“Huh?”
“P… President….”
“Is this for real?”
“Wow, President, thank you!”
The twenty-year-old Yoo Jin-young even stood up and bowed.
However, after the meeting, Lee Jung-woo, who asked to see Lee Hyun-woo outside, began to voice his concerns.
“Hyung, isn’t giving 1.5 times the pay for something that’s not work going to spoil them?”
Lee Hyun-woo, who allowed his younger brother to call him ‘Hyung’ even at the company when they were alone, shook his head.
“I thought about the opposite.”
“The opposite?”
“Bad habits. Forcing people to stay during work hours when there’s no work, just to collect their salary.”
“Is there someone like that? Who? Han Se-jin? Yoo Jin-young?”
“No, there’s no one currently. But someone might appear in the future. So we need to create a culture where we work when there’s work and play hard when it’s time to play.”
“And we have to pay for that?”
“Of course. If we don’t pay, we shouldn’t take away their evening time. Especially, you’ll need to adhere to this rule strictly when you’re in a higher position in the future, so it’s a habit we need to form now.”
This was something Lee Hyun-woo had thought about intermittently since his reincarnation.
Everything he was showing now would form the corporate culture of the growing 【Jungle】.
Fortunately, 【Jungle】 was currently composed of hardworking individuals.
But would the new people who join in the future have the same attitude?
“If the company continues to grow like it is now, we’ll always need more people. What are the chances that they’ll all have the same attitude as the current staff?”
“Well…”
“When that time comes, what do you think a hardworking superior will say to a seemingly lazy subordinate? No, imagine you hired a programmer. You and Yoo-chul have fully grasped the current tasks. But the new guy stumbles. He wants to do something but does it wrong. Why? Because he doesn’t know. And there’s no one to teach him because everyone is busy. The busyness leads to frustration, and that frustration gets passed down to the new hire.”
“……”
“Maybe at that point, the two of you will justify it as the way to learn work. But does it have to be that way? Can’t we teach them kindly and let them learn at a comfortable pace?”
This was Lee Hyun-woo speaking from his own experience as a new hire in his past life.
He had seen many side effects from it.
The worst wasn’t the employees who couldn’t endure and dropped out.
The worst was those who endured and became similar to their harsh superiors and stayed in the organization.
As society changed, these superiors didn’t express their cruelty as openly but found subtler ways to harass their subordinates.
Later, he realized that even with surplus manpower, work efficiency didn’t improve.
Even knowing this, he couldn’t change the organizational culture.
So in this new life, Lee Hyun-woo declared his new philosophy.
“I want to be the kind of entrepreneur who shows that it’s possible to succeed greatly in our country while maintaining a balance between work and personal life.”
