The moment Billy Cates’ decision was made, Lee Hyun-woo made a surprise visit to Oh Min-woo’s apartment.
Unexpectedly, it was clean.
“You have a neater personality than I thought.”
“Did you suspect me?”
“Not that, it’s just that all men are like that. When they start living alone, they become messy.”
“That’s only for those who haven’t served in the military. I keep things very organized.”
“Is that so?”
“By the way, I’m good at soccer too.”
It seemed like he was about to start talking about playing soccer in the military, but since the conversation was going in the desired direction, Lee Hyun-woo quickly picked it up.
“Soccer is good. How good are you?”
“I was an irreplaceable striker.”
“Wow… You have good athletic skills?”
“What can’t I do?”
“Right, right. In that case, I’m going to put a treadmill here. You won’t have any complaints, right?”
“Pardon?”
“Actually, it’s better to exercise while breathing fresh air than on a treadmill. So, why don’t you take the lead and form an early morning soccer club or something?”
“A… an early morning soccer club?”
“Or a baseball club is fine too. Develop it into a team and participate in amateur baseball tournaments. By the way, I used to pitch a bit in the military.”
“By pitching, you mean…”
“I mean I even tried being a pitcher. One of my dreams is to be the starting pitcher in an amateur baseball game.”
“Uh-huh…”
“Shall we start a baseball team while we’re at it?”
“W… why don’t we leave it at that? I understand what you’re getting at.”
He’s a quick-witted and smart guy.
He seemed to understand the intention of managing health by not just working but also exercising.
“It seems my younger brother got influenced by you. He said he wanted to live independently recently, and it turned the house upside down.”
“Yes, I’m aware.”
“You didn’t put the idea into his head, did you?”
“Well, maybe a little? Just a tiny bit?”
Oh Min-woo laughed sheepishly, narrowing his thumb and index finger.
“Perhaps because of that, Yoo-chul also says he wants to live independently.”
“What the…”
“It seems everyone will become my neighbors.”
“Remote work will turn into drinking parties then.”
Maybe that’s better.
Why do I have this uneasy feeling that they’ll only work when they all gather together?
“There won’t be drinking parties. We’ll live healthily. I also want to show that remote work can be efficient.”
“Sigh, I’m not asking for high efficiency, just don’t overdo it, please.”
“Hey, we won’t, we won’t.”
“And I heard a rumor that employees even live here and eat?”
“Wasn’t that allowed?”
“Stick to the 40-hour workweek.”
“Of course. We keep work and play separate and sleep here. These days, since the boss doesn’t hang out with me, I go to nightclubs with the kids. Gotta maintain work-life balance.”
Somehow, it feels like I’m being taken advantage of, but remote work was my idea.
‘I have to endure it, I guess.’
In any case, the workplace atmosphere in 1997 was more like a campaign to see the morning stars.
Just the attempt to pull it a bit more towards work-life balance was meaningful, wasn’t it?
Thinking this way made me feel better.
Just then, Secretary Kang Dong-ho who was with us received a call.
“Boss, I’ll step out for a bit…”
“It’s okay, take it here.”
“Yes, yes. Hello? Oh? Hello. Yes, this is Dong-ho Kang, secretary of Hyun-woo Lee.”
Though his pronunciation wasn’t great, Lee Hyun-woo acknowledged his effort as he spoke English naturally.
And a moment later.
“Boss, the schedule with Billy Cates next week has been confirmed.”
Seeing him execute the boss’s orders so confidently, Lee Hyun-woo felt proud of raising a good secretary.
As he nodded with a smile, he heard Oh Min-woo’s surprised voice.
“Billy Cates? You mean the founder of 【Macro Soft】?”
“Yes, that’s correct.”
“Why? Why are you meeting him?”
“Just because.”
“Just because? There’s no such thing as just because. There’s another project, right?”
“No. Just to have a chat.”
“I don’t think so…”
Oh Min-woo’s voice was full of expectation.
He probably felt like 【Jungle】 was about to partner with 【Macro Soft】 on some grand project.
It was obviously wishful thinking.
Lee Hyun-woo simply wanted to understand Billy Cates’ retirement philosophy.
‘Soon, he will pass the CEO position to someone else and start preparing for his retirement in earnest.’
According to Lee Hyun-woo’s memory, Billy Cates steps down as CEO in 2000.
Now it’s 1997, or soon to be 1998, so there are about two years left.
Since it was a colossal company, it needed to prepare in advance, so perhaps there could be an announcement of stepping down as CEO within a year.
If so, shouldn’t there be retirement plans around this time?
‘By the way, I also need to start grooming my successor.’
Lee Hyun-woo’s goal was early retirement.
Considering the growth rate of 【Jungle】, it was certain to happen before he turned forty.
His real wish was to achieve his goal and step down within five years, but who should he pass his position to?
“Min-woo, what’s your dream?”
“Out of the blue?”
“No, it’s just that I saw a glimmer of admiration for Billy Cates in your eyes and got curious. Is he your role model?”
“No, my role model is Hyun-woo Lee. You, boss.”
“What… is this flattery?”
“Boss, you have a rather free-spirited soul. I like how you handle the media. Right, Chief Kang?”
As the direction of the question shifted to Kang Dong-ho, he let out a slight sigh.
“Please don’t talk about the media. It’s tough…”
“Why?”
“You wouldn’t understand unless you served a boss who has such passionate romances.”
“Ah, I guess that’s true.”
As the conversation veered off course, Lee Hyun-woo brought it back on track.
“Anyway, what is our Director Oh’s dream? Your goal? As I just mentioned, if I’m your role model, wouldn’t you want to become the CEO?”
“Absolutely not.”
“What?”
“Seeing you, boss, it seems like a tremendously bothersome job. I like things just the way they are now. I’ll take this opportunity to decline any promotion.”
Lee Hyun-woo’s jaw dropped.
It seemed he had to exclude Oh Min-woo from the list of successors.
‘Hmm… then maybe Jung-woo?’
As it was time to wrap up the independence issue, Lee Hyun-woo went into his younger brother’s room after work that day.
Lee Jung-woo’s room was already packed up for independence.
Personal items were packed in boxes here and there.
“Did you already find an apartment?”
“Yes, you know where Min-woo lives? I think I’ll move into that building.”
“Have you signed the contract?”
“Not yet. I need to convince our parents since they are against it. You’re on my side, right?”
“Well… I don’t know. I’m neutral.”
“What? That’s so unlike you, bro. You should be on my side.”
“Siding with you doesn’t make any sense. It’s obvious you’ll bury yourself in work once you’re independent.”
“I won’t.”
It was an obvious lie, but continuing to nag seemed ridiculous.
Lee Hyun-woo got to the point.
“You know my goal, right?”
“Early retirement?”
“Yes, though these days it’s more like early retirement and becoming a househusband.”
“What’s that?”
“Just sending my wife to work while I take care of the house. Anyway, we’ll talk about that later, but what if I retire?”
“Are you saying I should take over the company?”
“I’m saying become one of the candidates.”
“How many candidates are there so far?”
“First, Director Oh.”
“And?”
“Then you. I need to ask Yoo-chul later, but that’s it for now.”
“Well, okay.”
His answer was too easy, making Lee Hyun-woo wonder if he was taking it lightly.
Seeing Lee Hyun-woo’s expression, Lee Jung-woo laughed.
“Being one of the candidates means it might not be me in the end, right?”
“That’s right. But don’t you think 【Jungle】 is great? We’ve secured most things, so as long as you don’t make mistakes, you can become an icon of the era.”
“Icon of the era, I like that expression. Well, of course, it’s great. But I’ll always be compared to you, won’t I?”
“That’s…”
“As long as you don’t make any big mistakes, I’ll be criticized the moment I take that position. The stress will be no joke.”
That was something he hadn’t thought of.
It seemed it was difficult to put oneself in someone else’s shoes.
‘Indeed, Billy Cates’ successors also faced a lot of criticism.’
But deliberately making mistakes or slowing down the company’s growth, as his brother suggested, was nonsense.
For now, he should be satisfied with getting an answer that he could be one of the candidates.
‘Indeed, there’s no easy task in this world.’
To retire early, he would need to think of a truly exceptional person as his successor.
The next day, he met Jang Yoo-chul.
This guy was busy too.
He was one of the most diligent ones, and Lee Hyun-woo liked that he was also diligent in his school studies.
“Honestly, I don’t think your early retirement has anything to do with me, boss.”
“Why not? Excluding Jung-woo, you’ve worked at our company the longest.”
“If it’s about working long, there’s also Han Se-jin and Yoo Jin-young.”
Though he shouldn’t be biased, he couldn’t set Yoo Jin-young as the CEO.
Without saying that, he asked Jang Yoo-chul again.
“I’m asking for your thoughts.”
“Boss, it might be premature to say this, but someday I want to start my own company.”
“What? Really?”
“Sorry.”
“No, no. No need to be sorry. Rather, I can support you in whatever you do.”
That’s true. Just because he started his first step at 【Jungle】 doesn’t mean he has to put down roots there until the end.
“But when…”
“When you retire, boss.”
“What?”
“Your retirement means 【Jungle】 will transition to a new era with a new system. As they say, new wine goes into new wineskins. By then, I feel it’s right for me to step aside as well.”
“Haha…”
“Sorry.”
“Hey, there’s no need to be sorry. Saying that makes me feel bad.”
Though he didn’t say it out loud, Jang Yoo-chul predicted that without Lee Hyun-woo, 【Jungle】 would shake a lot.
He didn’t know exactly how it would shake since he was still young, but he decided it was better to start his own company than to stay in a shaking 【Jungle】.
Sensing that to some extent, Lee Hyun-woo.
“It’s fascinating how the three of you have such different colors.”
“We talked about it too.”
“Oh? You guys talked?”
“Of course. Yesterday, when you mentioned early retirement and later passing the position to one of us, Min-woo, Jung-woo, and I chatted about it.”
“Haha…”
He had momentarily overlooked that they communicated with each other.
But they didn’t seem to be conspiring to move in one direction.
However,
‘Early retirement won’t be easy.’
It seemed he would have to ponder how to prepare for his retirement.
Some might think he was getting too far ahead of himself.
However, currently, 【Jungle】 was hitting big with every service it launched, and there was a high probability it would break records and go public as early as next year.
Before that, the listings of 【Jungle Japan】 and 【Jungle USA】 were coming up, so a windfall of money and success was guaranteed.
Finally, the launches of 【Jungle China】 and 【Jungle Taiwan】 were approaching.
“Boss, the servers in Taiwan and Hong Kong have crashed again!”
The start in the Chinese-speaking regions also showed ominous signs.
