After finishing all the schedules in Taiwan, people moved to Hong Kong.
They were somewhat separated at the airport.
Some of the people from 【Jungle】 took a return flight to Korea, leaving behind some executives and employees.
These were the personnel to hand over the baton. In other words, since Lee Hyun-woo had announced the overseas rotation workshop policy in advance, they were likely to exchange duties with those who would depart for Hong Kong from Seoul after returning.
Meanwhile, the executive bringing the second group of overseas workshop members was Oh Min-woo. Regarding this, Lee Hyun-woo, who had spoken with him the previous night, suddenly brought up a new topic on the plane.
“I received a call from Director Oh last night. He said ‘Make Friends’ is almost complete.”
“Ah, yes… That’s much faster than expected.”
“Indeed. I thought it would take longer.”
As Kang Dong-ho and Han Se-jin responded, curiosity flickered in the eyes of Clones sitting right next to them.
“Is it okay to ask what that is?”
“I’m curious too. But ‘Make Friends’? Even I, who isn’t good at English, can tell it’s about making friends.”
“Yes, exactly. More like rekindling old friendships than making new ones, to be precise.”
Fortunately, Lee Hyun-woo didn’t seem to intend to hide it.
“Honestly, as adults, we’re curious about what our old friends from the past are up to, right? The website ‘Make Friends’ will solve that for you. It might even include your first loves, and perhaps your elementary school teachers who might take charge as your new homeroom teacher to find you.”
“What? Our teachers? How?”
“Of course, by creating a class on ‘Make Friends’. For example, ‘Jungle Elementary School 1983, 6th grade, class 3, gather around!’ Just like your 【Jungle】 café. The adult classmates gather by creating a class.”
“Wow, just thinking about it feels surreal.”
“Me too, me too.”
Indeed, nostalgia filled the faces of the two.
“【Jungle】 always does things differently. I heard 【Yaho Taiwan】 came out first, but it seems it can’t beat 【Jungle】.”
“Well, we don’t know yet. The chairman of 【Yaho】 is Taiwanese, right? Maybe Taiwanese people will prefer it more?”
“Absolutely not.”
Apparently, 【Yaho Taiwan】 was quite popular in Taiwan.
Seeing that Clones mentioned it.
But Kang Dong-ho reacted immediately to the mention of 【Yaho Taiwan】 by the two.
Lee Hyun-woo quietly stepped back to let Kang Dong-ho speak comfortably.
“Based on our analysis over the past few days, it seems 【Yaho Taiwan】 will fail to localize.”
“Oh, really? But what do you mean by localization?”
“What is that?”
“In business, localization means approaching through what the local people like. More specifically… Ah! Let me ask you two a question. Do you think American pop songs are always popular in Korea? That is, are songs that hit the Billboard charts more popular than our own K-pop?”
“No. That might have been the case in the past, but nowadays our K-pop sells better.”
“Why is that?”
“Well, it’s in our language, fits our sentiments, and is made to our liking.”
“Exactly.”
“Yes?”
“The same goes for portal sites. To get more visits and clicks locally, you need to include content that local people prefer. The same applies to search results. Depending on whether ‘China’ comes up first or ‘Taiwan’ when you search for ‘China’ on 【Yaho Taiwan】, the portal site’s preference will vary.”
“Ah…”
Now understanding, Clones nodded their heads.
In fact, localization is a basic principle.
In his past life, the success of 【Yaho Japan】 in Japan was also due to Hand Zhongyi’s excellent localization.
“The only thing that might work in Taiwan for 【Yaho】 is their logo color.”
“Oh, I noticed that too. It’s red. Taiwanese people like that.”
“Yes, they do like red.”
“So, changing the logo to a color Taiwanese people like is considered localization.”
“No, in fact, 【Yaho】’s original logo color is red, so they just used it as it is. On the other hand, our logo color in Korea is green.”
“Right.”
“But this time, we plan to change 【Jungle Taiwan】’s logo to red.”
In other words, while 【Yaho】 uses its original American version, 【Jungle】 will tailor its launch to fit Taiwan.
“Moreover, our employees will collaborate with local market research firms to design each web page and content to suit Taiwanese preferences. That’s also the strategy behind Clones and Yoon-sun Kim’s concert.”
“Ah, I see…”
“Indeed, the company needs someone like Manager Kang to run it. Even if I heard all this, I wouldn’t know if I could do it. Hahaha.”
Listening to the three, Lee Hyun-woo had a serene smile on his lips.
The reason Kang Dong-ho was explaining in such detail was simple.
Clones needed to understand 【Jungle】’s strategy to promote it effectively.
To this end, 【Jungle】 covered all costs for concerts, fan signings, and TV appearances.
‘By the way, 【Yaho】 must know what we know. They seem to have rushed too much in their haste.’
Lee Hyun-woo recalled Jamie Wang, the founder of 【Yaho】, whom he met not long ago.
Along with the management philosophy autobiography of Jamie Wang and the Chinese character dictionary he had read in his past life, memories came flooding back.
Jamie Wang’s strength was his empathy.
He excelled more in empathizing with people than in technology, which allowed him to develop content effectively.
The reason he once thrived in Korea was also due to his successful localization.
All of this was achieved through thorough preparation, but this time he seemed to have rushed his entry.
‘If they fail in localization and fall behind in technology, what will they do?’
Was this like a cat worrying about a mouse?
Lee Hyun-woo thought 【Yaho】’s downfall might be hastened in this life.
Of course, externally, 【Yaho】 seems more like a cat than 【Jungle】.
【Yaho】 tripled its market cap to $1 billion three days after going public last year, and now it has surpassed $10 billion, more than a hundred times its initial value.
Certainly, it reached unicorn status much faster than 【Jungle】 and has already entered the decacorn club with a valuation of $10 billion.
But that seems to be the end of it.
Just like in his past life, 【Yaho】 is neglecting technological development and now faces 【Jungle】 with its empathy.
‘Sorry, it’s not intentional.’
Thus, Lee Hyun-woo could only think like a cat worrying about a mouse.
“Although the response is good, we might be overshadowed once 【Jungle Taiwan】 comes out.”
Jamie Wang was accurately predicting the future through the current situation, even if he wasn’t aware of the empathy aspect.
Having arrived in Hong Kong before Lee Hyun-woo, he found a critical problem while operating 【Yaho Taiwan】 in Taiwan.
The search engine wasn’t working as intended.
“The search results are not appearing in the order of what’s trending in Taiwan.”
“This issue will be resolved as more data accumulates.”
“It needs to be resolved quickly.”
Jamie Wang was already feeling the pressure.
This meant he was conscious of Lee Hyun-woo and 【Jungle】.
“If the upcoming 【Jungle Taiwan】 improves on this, even I would choose 【Jungle Taiwan】 over 【Yaho Taiwan】.”
“That’s a negative thought. That’s not like you, Chairman.”
“I don’t know what ‘being like me’ is, but I have been changing as the company grew. I don’t know if it’s for the better, though.”
“It’s for the better.”
“Even if it’s not, it feels like I’m being brainwashed by Steve.”
Jamie Wang couldn’t shake the feeling that he was losing himself.
The same went for the initial intention when he first created 【Yaho】.
His philosophy was to combine technology with humanities to bring people together in the network space.
“We are only pursuing the logic of capital, not people. Acknowledging this will show us the way out.”
Secretary Steve Wong closed his mouth.
He thought he shouldn’t intervene in significant matters, even though he had been advising all along.
However, he couldn’t help but be shaken by Jamie Wang’s next words.
“I should have accepted Lee Hyun-woo’s proposal. No, I must meet him again now.”
“Are you saying… to borrow the search engine?”
“Yes, the longer we delay, the more damage we will suffer from 【Jungle】.”
Steve Wong’s voice trembled at the chairman’s conclusion.
“If 【Yaho】 uses 【Jungle】’s search engine… You must consider the repercussions that will follow.”
“Yes, it would be seen as us conceding technologically. And it would acknowledge 【Jungle】.”
“We might be caught up even faster than expected.”
“That could be true. However, this will give us a chance for self-reflection, and we won’t fall any further.”
Steve’s expression was as if struck by lightning at the mention of falling further.
‘I see. I was so focused on not being outdone by 【Jungle】 that I didn’t consider the other competitors and latecomers.’
【Likes】 immediately came to mind.
Moreover, 【Macro Soft】 also announced plans to develop its own PC communication into a portal service, and 【Pineapple】 was developing a portal site as well.
Indeed, a Warring States period had begun.
“We were so excited about being first that we couldn’t actively respond to changes. I think now is the time to find our original intention.”
At Jamie Wang’s calm voice, Steve Wong finally nodded.
And then he said,
“I’m sorry. I haven’t been a good secretary to you, Chairman.”
“Don’t think like that. We are a team. We made a wrong judgment together, and we should take responsibility together.”
“……”
“Please contact Lee Hyun-woo as soon as he arrives in Hong Kong. I don’t know how he will feel since we rejected him last time.”
“I’m sure he will accept. There’s a lot to gain from this.”
“We also have something to offer. If the search engines are the same, 【Yaho】’s weakness will be healed.”
“Then the real competition will begin.”
“Yes, as Lee Hyun-woo said, a cooperative competitive relationship will be established.”
Thinking up to this point, Jamie Wang’s mind was filled with Lee Hyun-woo’s face.
For some reason, the image of Lee Hyun-woo, who had predicted that 【Yaho】 would come to 【Jungle】 to borrow the search engine, was deeply engraved.
A sense of defeat spread throughout his body.
‘It’s okay. Not now. It’s not too late.’
