On this day, Lee Hyun-woo had a dream.
It was a dream featuring a high-ranking official from the afterlife that he had seen before.
When dreaming, it felt very vivid, but when he actually woke up in the morning, he couldn’t remember what they had talked about.
“Is this perhaps a message? Like saying I’m doing well, but I need to try harder?”
With this thought, he couldn’t help but chuckle to himself.
The previous day, he had thought too much about the reaper, so he had such a dream, but wasn’t he somehow giving it meaning himself?
“Going back to the past and seeing how I’ve lived, it’s hard for me to evaluate myself, so I guess I’m even dreaming about it.”
One thing was for sure, he had always pushed forward with what he thought was right without moving towards anything obviously bad.
With the resolve to live that way, Lee Hyun-woo started his day.
“From today, I need to look into the companies participating in this 21st-century venture business association.”
So far, he had only briefly looked at the names and what they did.
Some were intriguing, some were completely absurd, and some briefly attracted public attention before quickly collapsing.
But today, the companies that had newly applied were mostly related to platform sites.
So, Lee Hyun-woo’s eyes couldn’t help but widen.
“Oh my… something like this has already come out.”
The first thing that caught his eye was a platform company called 【Go to travel】.
As the name suggests, it was a travel site.
It was a site created with the purpose of connecting accommodation and flights to netizens.
It reminded him of the lodging-sharing platform 【Air and BnB】 for no reason.
“This is too ahead of its time, isn’t it?”
So, he felt like investing in it.
He was curious about how much further it could be advanced.
From the current point in time, Lee Hyun-woo had advanced things by about 2 years.
In other words, internet penetration rates, the development speed of core computer components, MP3 players, and other content.
Of course, some things were supposed to come out later, and some contents hadn’t come out yet.
So, it was hard to say precisely, but a product that was exactly 2 years ahead appeared before Lee Hyun-woo’s eyes shortly after.
That was the MP3 phone.
Naturally, the person who brought the MP3 phone was Kim Tae-hyun, and there was an inexplicable pride on his face.
“How about it? Not bad, right?”
“Wow, I can’t believe this has come out already, much faster than I expected.”
“When did you expect it?”
“Well… when was it?”
It was hard to grasp.
In his past life, it was a product released in 1999.
“It feels like I wound the clock forward by 2 years within a year and a half after returning.”
It was truly an amazing butterfly effect.
In fact, the MP3 phone born in 1999 was a sensation not just domestically but even more so abroad.
It was so significant that it was selected as one of the most influential devices invented in the last 100 years.
“It’s a bit disappointing that it’s a monochrome LCD display.”
“Are you hoping for a color LCD? It’s possible, but if we do that, there won’t be many people who can afford to buy it. It would become extremely expensive. Our goal is to produce mobile phones that the general public can buy.”
“Of course, that’s your goal. I was just saying out of disappointment. But if you really mean it when you say it’s possible, could you make one just for me? I’ll pay for it.”
“What? Really?”
“Hey, do you think I’d joke around in the morning? And how many lines of text can this display?”
He asked as if he genuinely intended to place a custom order.
“It can display five lines of text and simple graphics on the screen.”
“I see. The size looks to be about 10 cm in height and 5 cm in width. The thickness is about 3 cm? And the weight is… just over 100g?”
“Do you have a scale in your hand? It’s roughly similar. We could make it lighter and smaller, but to combine an MP3 player and a mobile phone into one product, it couldn’t be helped.”
“I was complimenting. To combine those two into one and make it this light is impressive. I’m looking forward to the PDA that will come out someday.”
“It feels like you’re pressuring me to make it lighter.”
“Hahaha, I’m just a bit greedy.”
“Why are you being greedy about our company’s product?”
“Well, it just makes me greedy.”
Lee Hyun-woo smiled broadly and continued to speak about the request he had just made.
“Anyway, if you change it to a color LCD, I’ll promote it diligently. I’ll take it with me whenever I go abroad.”
“It will cost a lot.”
“Yeah, yeah. Let’s do that. I have a lot of money these days, so it’s not a problem at all.”
“You envious guy. They say that when you go public, it’ll exceed 1 trillion won, right? Since you haven’t received investments from here and there, you’ll become richer than me right away.”
Kim Tae-hyun’s words had enough credibility.
No matter how much he was the heir of 【Guseong】, he didn’t have that much personal wealth.
It was because he had little equity.
But Lee Hyun-woo was different.
Since he hadn’t received investments so far, it was assumed he held almost 100% of the shares.
If 【Jungle Japan】 and 【Jungle USA】 got listed, wouldn’t he suddenly become a super-rich person emerging globally?
“In that sense, let me ask you a favor too.”
“Go ahead.”
“Can you exhibit that at this 21st-century venture business association meeting?”
Lee Hyun-woo’s eyebrows rose.
“Wow, hyung, you’re really using your brain well. You know that foreign investors are coming that day and you want to show this off.”
“Yeah, that’s right. When the opportunity for promotion comes, it needs to be done properly.”
“You’re amazing. Yes, I’ll ask others their opinions too. Originally, only small and medium-sized enterprises were eligible, but since it’s an opportunity to showcase Korean technology, it might be good to set up a special booth.”
“Okay, then I’ll count on you.”
Since a new product was made, how much work would there be to do?
When Kim Tae-hyun, who had ‘busy’ written all over his face, stood up, Lee Hyun-woo saw him off to the front door.
While he was out, he took his mobile phone and contacted Jung Sung-woo, the president of 【Alpha Cast】.
“If you have time, I’ll come over for a moment.”
Since last month, Jung Sung-woo had been serving as the president of the 21st-century venture business association.
So, he had to discuss the exhibition of the MP3 phone with him.
Jung Sung-woo was favorable.
“I received a call from Director Kim saying he would send an MP3 phone. Hahaha.”
At the end of last year, Kim Tae-hyun also served as the managing director of 【Guseong Electronics】.
Recently, he had been doing more work for 【Guseong Electronics】 than for 【Guseong Systems】, so his title was ‘Director Kim.’
“This hyung even manages people now.”
If MP3 phones started coming out, MP3 players could take a hit.
Even so, seeing Jung Sung-woo being okay with it, it seemed there was some mutual understanding between them.
“As I mentioned before, I was concerned about MP3 players coming out from everywhere. Moreover, combining it with a mobile phone seems so convenient, doesn’t it? The CEO said it could get even better with the advancement of technology, so I accepted it with a calm demeanor.”
“Ah, yes…”
He had said something like that before.
And even now, Lee Hyun-woo held similar thoughts.
“That’s why things are advancing by several years.”
He couldn’t know the technical details of IT, but he had read about technological advancements over time, such as Moore’s Law.
Moore talked about a “two-year doubling period,” but later 【Guseong】 achieved an even faster “one-year doubling period.”
So, was 【Alpha Cast】 also planning a product with twice the functionality of the MP3 players released earlier this year?
“Developing the MP3 phone has led to several core components being upgraded. And things that are still hard to incorporate into the MP3 phone can be installed in the MP3 player.”
“Ah…”
He roughly understood what that meant.
It meant that while there were limitations in utilizing components in the combination of a mobile phone and MP3 player, it was possible for the MP3 player.
“So, we have a new product as well.”
“Already?”
“Ah, to be precise, it’s scheduled to come out. We plan to release it right after this Chuseok.”
“It’s faster than I expected.”
“Yes, so about what you mentioned earlier, we’d like to exhibit it along with the MP3 phone…”
“You’re the president, so decide after gathering the opinions of the members. I agree with it.”
After discussing this, Lee Hyun-woo stood up.
For some reason, he felt the future was approaching one step closer.
“Smartphones might come out much faster than I expected.”
In fact, due to technological advancement, some world-changing products were released early, but demand was also an undeniable condition.
When the world wants something, the product comes out.
This was the very advantage that the time-traveled Lee Hyun-woo always had.
Knowing what the world would want in the future, he could prepare in advance and release content without the risk of failure.
Meanwhile, he was also maintaining stable security related to intellectual property and hacking, so success was almost guaranteed.
As a result, Lee Hyun-woo couldn’t help but think about how to advance things even further.
However, it wasn’t always about being the first mover.
In online shopping and portal sites, there were already established players in the USA, so he was more like a latecomer.
Even so, as if to prove the saying “the later horn stands tall,” 【Jungle USA】 was showing its might.
“Should I have just let Director Woo develop the operating system when he talked about it last time?”
On his way back to the office, this thought suddenly filled Lee Hyun-woo’s mind.
Lee Hyun-woo, who usually allowed any development, had stopped it at that time because it felt like hitting a rock with an egg.
Instead, he redirected it to a PDA operating system, but now he thought he should have let them challenge 【Macro Soft】 with the OS development as well.
“At that time, I instinctively became cautious…”
Lee Hyun-woo decided that he would never stop people from doing things again and returned to the office.
Since it had come to this, he planned to spare no support.
When Lee Hyun-woo made up his mind, Woo Sang-won came in to report.
“In the morning, there was a call from 【Guseong Electronics】. They said the release of the MP3 phone is imminent. So, they’re planning to install our MP3 playback program on it.”
“Yes, I heard from Director Kim Tae-hyun earlier. Once that device comes out, the era of MP3 files will be upon us.”
“That’s right. I also heard that 【GB Electronics】 is almost done developing MP3 players.”
“How’s the PDA operating system coming along?”
“It’s almost done, and we’re preparing for testing. 【Guseong Electronics】 aims to release it early next year.”
“Then we can set the next goal, right?”
“The next goal?”
“Combining the PDA and mobile phone.”
“……!”
