As Goo Man-hoi joined as the tenth team leader, introductions were made again, and the company became busy getting acquainted with each other’s faces and styles.
Lee Hyun-woo definitely felt this atmosphere.
“There are so many things to do, but it feels chaotic, doesn’t it?”
However, he demonstrated leadership by assigning tasks to everyone from the beginning.
In particular, he gave clear tasks to the new team leader.
“Team Leader Shin, please send all the investment-related information that you have organized so far to the domestic and international entities that have expressed interest in investing.”
“Yes, CEO. I will organize it quickly and send the documents via fax or email after a phone call.”
“Team Leader Hwang, could you please contact government agencies like the Ministry of Science and Technology to review the regulations that are hindering our company’s technological development and, if possible, ask them to expedite the process?”
“Of course. I will start meeting with the officials from today. I will primarily meet those I became familiar with during my time at Daehan Communications.”
“Team Leader Jang, please think about how to improve the weakest aspect of our company, the design part.”
“We have already discussed this. He said he would first focus on the game sector.”
Before Jang Kang-hyun could respond, Lee Jung-woo stepped in, and Lee Hyun-woo nodded.
“Yes, then I’ll leave it to you. Lastly, Team Leader Goo.”
“Yes, CEO.”
“Please consider how to supplement the talent development, which has been lacking in our company so far.”
“I will start preparing immediately from today.”
By dividing the tasks like this, things felt somewhat organized.
Of course, new variables were bound to arise once they got into the actual work.
Company affairs rarely get resolved all at once.
However, Lee Hyun-woo had the benefit of experience from his past life.
It didn’t take even a few seconds to compare and review.
‘The problem is knowing the mistakes in life and still not being able to fix them.’
One of those problems surfaced as the meeting was about to end.
“Tomorrow is the college entrance exam, so we will delay the start time.”
It was because someone suddenly came to mind when he heard Woo Sang-won’s words.
That person was Kim Na-yoon.
‘She might become my sister-in-law later, so I shouldn’t neglect her.’
Lee Hyun-woo quickly went out to buy glutinous rice cakes and yeot (Korean taffy).
The next morning, Lee Hyun-woo waited in front of Kim Ah-young’s house for Kim Na-yoon to come out.
Since the exam start time was around 8 a.m., he arrived early in the morning.
Because of this, Han Se-jin also accompanied him, but he deliberately stayed in the car.
He wanted to give Lee Hyun-woo and Kim Na-yoon some time alone.
After a while, the door opened, and instead of Kim Na-yoon, a car carrying her appeared first.
“Huh?”
The car stopped, and when the door opened, Kim Na-yoon got out and looked at Lee Hyun-woo with wide eyes.
“Oppa?”
“Today is the college entrance exam. I couldn’t come yesterday, so I’m here now to give you this.”
What Lee Hyun-woo handed her were the glutinous rice cakes and yeot he had prepared the day before.
“Don’t eat it now. Eat it after the exam is over.”
“Oh, if I want good results, I should eat it now.”
In reality, Kim Na-yoon tore open the package and took a bite of the glutinous rice cake.
As she did so, she said,
“Wow, I’m really touched that you’re taking care of me like this.”
“Touched? Haha… It’s something I should do, of course.”
Even as he said this, he felt a sting for some reason.
It wasn’t from Kim Na-yoon but from the guilt he felt towards his eldest daughter in his past life.
‘I didn’t even know it was her college entrance exam back then.’
He was on an overseas business trip at the time.
As a parent, he should have at least made a phone call.
Why is this memory coming up now?
As his gaze turned wistful, Kim Na-yoon tilted her head in curiosity.
“What’s this? You’re looking at me like I’m your daughter.”
“Was I? Haha… Anyway, good luck on your exam.”
“Yes, I will do my best. Oh, I should take a picture of this and post it later.”
“Are you still active on your blog?”
“Of course. I regularly post photos on my blog, and lately, I’ve been busy with the ‘Make Friends’ activities with my classmates.”
“Hmm, no mention of studying for the exam. Does that mean you’re a genius?”
“Uh… Yes…”
“Haha, I didn’t mean to make you uncomfortable.”
“It did make me a bit uncomfortable. I’m not particularly good at studying, so I feel a bit sorry for my parents since they spent a lot on my tutoring…”
“Really?”
“Oppa, you didn’t have that, right?”
“Huh?”
“You know, the top scorers on TV always say things like, ‘I never had private tutoring or went to academies. I studied mainly with textbooks and followed my school teachers’ guidance.’ Like that.”
“Hahahaha.”
Lee Hyun-woo burst into laughter.
Then, after his laughter subsided, he nodded and said,
“You must have found my interview article from years ago. Impressive. How did you find that?”
“……”
“Ah… Or not?”
“Well, I’m going now.”
“Oh, okay… Good luck on your exam.”
The quote Kim Na-yoon just mentioned was exactly what Lee Hyun-woo had said in an interview after his college entrance exam.
That’s why he mentioned it, but Kim Na-yoon’s expression stiffened.
‘It seems like I was showing off unnecessarily.’
The car carrying Kim Na-yoon started to move.
But before it could fully depart, she rolled down the window and cheerfully said,
“Oppa, I heard that your father is opening a store at the end of this month? I’ll help promote it then!”
“Huh? Oh… Okay! Thanks!”
How did she know?
At the end of this month, Lee Hyun-woo’s father was finally opening a GAPE KOREA store at the main branch of New World Department Store.
‘But what does she mean by promotion?’
As he got back into his car, Lee Hyun-woo tilted his head in puzzlement.
Soon, he realized.
The promotion Kim Na-yoon mentioned was probably referring to blog promotion.
Perhaps she meant she would buy clothes from GAPE KOREA and post about it on her blog, like before.
‘It’s nice of her to care about such things, haha…’
Whether or not the promotion worked didn’t matter; it was her thoughtfulness that made him happy.
When he got into the car, Han Se-jin couldn’t help but be impressed.
“You’re so thoughtful towards your future sister-in-law; you’ll make a great husband.”
As soon as he got to the office, Lee Hyun-woo checked out his future sister-in-law Kim Na-yoon’s blog.
‘She really has been active.’
She had posted something even the day before, and the photos showed piles of glutinous rice cakes and yeot, with the following caption:
- Gifts from my parents, sister, relatives, and friends. There’s so much that I’m thinking of sharing them. Leave a comment if you want some.
He could sense her kind nature as well.
‘Wow, there’s so much glutinous rice cake and yeot. I guess I added to the pile.’
Even though she had so much, she deliberately took a bite in front of him earlier, which made him smile.
He also noticed the last part of her post.
- Blogging is so much fun. Should I get a job at a blog company in the future?
This could be Kim Na-yoon’s dream.
And although there are many blog companies now, the one with the highest market share is Jungle.
‘Does she mean she wants to get a job at our company?’
He wasn’t sure, but while looking at the fields she wanted to major in, he found something interesting.
- It seems like there aren’t any female developers who amaze the world. What if I become one?
It was bold but also an ambitious dream that made Lee Hyun-woo smile.
Currently, there weren’t many female developers.
In his past life, he couldn’t recall any notable female developers.
‘Because of that, our company has a high male-to-female ratio.’
Jungle, with its overwhelmingly dominant development sector.
Thus, most of the employees were developers.
There were also many men in sales, so the actual female employee ratio might be less than 5%.
This figure had increased recently due to the hiring in the design sector.
Therefore, if his future sister-in-law achieved her dream of becoming a developer and applied to Jungle, she would be welcomed anytime.
‘By the way, getting lost in blogs can be endless.’
Even though he had only checked one person’s blog, 30 minutes had passed.
Fortunately, today was a late start due to the college entrance exam, or it might have interfered with his morning work.
‘Since it’s come to this, should I do some blog hopping before Director Woo and the two managers report in?’
Sitting in front of his computer, he started connecting to friends’ blogs and their friends’ blogs without any particular purpose.
This was something he rarely did in his previous life.
He considered it a waste of time.
Lee Hyun-woo had been a firm believer in the famous Manchester United manager Alex Ferguson’s saying, “SNS is a waste of life.”
But now, he had completely changed his stance.
It was the milk and honey of his new second life.
So, until people arrived at the office, he indulged in blog hopping and ‘Make Friends’ hopping.
He got so absorbed that he lost track of time.
‘This SNS really dominates people’s daily lives. It’s no joke.’
Blogs already had advertisements, but if they started putting ads on ‘Make Friends’ as well, they would make a lot of money.
‘In this life, everything I touch seems to turn to gold.’
It was only natural.
He was doing business with things that had been proven successful in the future; it would be strange if he failed.
Anyway, that day, even while working, he continued to indulge in blog and ‘Make Friends’ hopping.
Eventually, he found out Kim Na-yoon’s college entrance exam results.
- Today’s exam was easy! Everything went smoothly! But it seems it wasn’t just me who found it easy.
Lee Hyun-woo, who belonged to the generation of the Scholastic Ability Test, didn’t know much about the college entrance exam, but he had heard of the terms ‘difficult exam’ and ‘easy exam.’
These meant a difficult college entrance exam and an easy college entrance exam, respectively. It seemed this year’s exam was really easy.
In that case, the overall cutoff score would likely be higher.
‘What if my sister-in-law does well on the exam but still can’t get into her desired college?’
The next day.
“I think we should have some events for this year’s college entrance exam takers.”
Lee Hyun-woo didn’t miss the marketing opportunity around the college entrance exam.
During his regular morning meeting with Woo Sang-won, he continued to discuss related matters.
“Distribute discount coupons for all the things that exam takers might access, like online shopping and MP3s.”
“Yes, I will do that.”
Woo Sang-won smiled and nodded.
He was aware that Lee Hyun-woo had given glutinous rice cakes and yeot to his future sister-in-law the previous day.
Han Se-jin, finding it quite remarkable, had shared the story with a few people in passing.
Woo Sang-won also shared a bit of news.
“And unlike our time, the college entrance exam is now a post-exam application system.”
“Yes, I know, haha.”
“We don’t know the exact number of applications yet, but it seems computer science-related majors will be extremely popular.”
“Oh? Really?”
“Yes, some specific schools might even have competition ratios of hundreds to one.”
“Ah… Yes…”
“It seems that, anticipating the information and communications industry becoming the new era’s key player, many exam takers are flocking to it.”
Listening to Woo Sang-won’s words, Lee Hyun-woo felt a bit worried.
‘Will Na-yoon be able to achieve her dream?’
Lee Hyun-woo chuckled.
Isn’t worrying about a chaebol (a wealthy business family) the most pointless worry in the world?
Moreover, if she has a dream and a firm will, she will eventually make her way there.
A few days later, Kim Na-yoon’s blog content changed.
- It seems like creating blogs or ‘Make Friends’ isn’t something only developers can do. I’m thinking about becoming a web designer instead.
