Of course, if you directly compare 【Make Friends】 to 【Face Note】, you could say they are entirely different types.
There are various types of SNS, and the former seems to be a mix of two popular forms from the past life, namely, 【Free Challenge】 and 【I Like School】.
In one word, it can be defined as community social media.
On the other hand, the latter is a perfect one-person social media form.
‘Do I have to go through another step to get there?’
That question will be answered in time.
However, according to Lee Hyun-woo’s memory, 【Free Challenge】 was far larger in scale than the portal site’s cafes and later surpassed the page views of the number one portal site, 【Yaho Korea】.
Also, 【I Like School】 recorded 5 million members in the shortest time and surpassed hundreds of billions in value.
Both clearly created their own syndromes.
【Free Challenge】 led the online culture with a user’s avatar character called ‘Altago’, and 【I Like School】 helped people find their school friends on the internet, fulfilling their nostalgic memories.
Therefore, even Lee Hyun-woo was curious about what kind of syndrome the newly emerged community social media 【Make Friends】 would cause.
‘For now, these two kids seem to be using it very well.’
Thinking he would take the opportunity to refer to their opinions, he asked about 【Free Challenge】’s ‘Altago’.
“Hey, kids.”
“Yes?”
“Yes?”
“I’ve been considering applying an avatar character to 【Make Friends】 lately, and I wanted to hear your opinions since you use it often.”
“An avatar character?”
“What is that?”
“It’s literally an avatar. A character that can do various things online on your behalf… Hmm, Han Manager.”
“Yes, CEO.”
“Could you give me a writing tool for a second?”
“Oh… Yes, just a moment.”
Han Se-jin, who always carries a writing tool, hands a notebook and a pen to Lee Hyun-woo.
Then, Lee Hyun-woo opens the very back of the notebook and starts drawing.
It’s the Altago character from 【Free Challenge】 that remained in his memory.
“Here, it’s an image of a person like this, offering various eyebrows, eyes, noses, mouths, hairstyles, and even hats. You choose from these and apply them to this person’s image. I might not draw well, so it may not look that appealing, but if we make it really pretty, wouldn’t people use it as their avatar character?”
“Ah… If it were me, I’d definitely use it!”
“Yes… Me too!”
The voices of the two young ladies, who were close to graduation, were filled with anticipation and excitement.
Lee Hyun-woo smiled broadly.
“Alright, let’s give it a try.”
“Huh? Oppa, is it okay just hearing our opinions?”
“Really?”
“Of course, your opinions are actually more important. The age group that uses 【Make Friends】 the most is teenagers. Think of it as a kind of market research. For the price of a hamburger, that is.”
In fact, not only is the age group that uses 【Make Friends】 the most teenagers, but they also spend a significant amount of time on it.
Probably, there were also many conflicts with their parents.
‘There may be more fights in the future if I create Altago.’
For reference, Altago was a compound word from 【Free Challenge】, shortened from the English ‘Alter ego’. And the Korean interpretation of Alter ego was ‘avatar’.
At this point, Lee Hyun-woo handed the writing tool back to Han Se-jin.
Naturally, Han Se-jin did not put the writing tool back in his pocket but started to organize and record the conversation that Lee Hyun-woo and the two young ladies had just had.
After sending off Kim Na-yoon and her friend, Lee Hyun-woo headed back to the store.
However, as he got closer,
“I thought it might be a bit quieter than when it opened…”
“Wow, it looks like you’ll be busy all day today.”
There were even more people than before.
So many that you could call it a ‘sea of people’ gathered outside because they couldn’t enter the store.
The reason his father was able to come out and greet Lee Hyun-woo was probably because more staff were put in the store.
“Hyun-woo, you’re here?”
“CEO, you’re here.”
Designer Lee Hwan, who was helping his father, greeted Lee Hyun-woo with an excited expression.
Lee Hyun-woo greeted them both and started a conversation.
“Wow, it looks like things will go really well in the future?”
“It’s the first day, so we have to keep watching.”
“Yes, of course.”
Seeing his father and Lee Hwan agree that it was just the opening rush, Lee Hyun-woo smiled with satisfaction.
“Have you eaten?”
“Oh, I have. But this designer hasn’t.”
“No, it’s not that I haven’t eaten. I wasn’t feeling well earlier. When I get nervous, I can’t eat anything.”
“How about now? Have you calmed down?”
“Yes? Oh, yes, haha…”
“If you’re okay, I’d like to treat you to lunch. You’ve worked hard.”
“Sh-should I?”
Although Lee Hyun-woo had eaten, he wanted to talk to this person.
He had a pending issue to settle.
‘I need to settle the matter of studying abroad in Italy, right?’
Initially, under the condition of helping his father’s work, Lee Hyun-woo promised investment in Lee Hwan’s company and later sending him to study abroad in Italy.
It was still early to mention the success of 【GAPE KOREA】, but he needed to figure out when Lee Hwan intended to study in Italy to prevent any hindrance to his father’s business.
So the two of them moved to the food court, ordered tonkatsu and a light meal, and naturally started a conversation.
“Ah, Na-yoon was here a while ago. She was asking me where ‘Oppa’ was. She seemed disappointed that she missed you, CEO.”
“I met her. Haha…”
Lee Hyun-woo burst into an awkward laugh, surprised that Kim Na-yoon called him ‘Oppa’ even in front of this person.
“By the way, it seems you keep in touch with Na-yoon?”
“Yes, we became blog friends after the last project.”
“Really…”
“She didn’t seem like a typical rich girl, which I really liked.”
“Exactly. Among their family, I feel most comfortable with Na-yoon.”
【Jungle Shopping】 was one of the first places to showcase an online fashion mall and had been increasing its market share through frequent collaborations with clothing companies.
Naturally, his father’s 【Two Woo Fashion】 was one of the companies that collaborated, and for a smooth initial landing, Lee Hyun-woo received help from Kim Na-yoon.
At that time, Kim Na-yoon took the time to wear mainly young-sensibility 【Two Woo Fashion】 clothes, take pictures, and post them on her blog.
The topic was sufficient, and quite a few young people purchased the collaborative clothing between 【Jungle Shopping】 and 【Two Woo Fashion】.
Meanwhile, Lee Hwan had helped with Kim Na-yoon’s coordination back then.
‘I didn’t know they were keeping in touch.’
Recalling those days, Lee Hyun-woo smiled and expressed his gratitude.
“I’m really thankful to you in many ways.”
“Huh? Why to me…”
“You helped us succeed with the 【online fashion mall】, and now you’re assisting my father, so I can’t help but be grateful.”
“Oh, it was just fair compensation for both. Actually, I should be thanking you. I feel like I’ll regain my confidence thanks to this project.”
Since Lee Hwan mentioned confidence, it seemed he also had a premonition of success.
Therefore, Lee Hyun-woo brought up the topic of studying abroad in Italy, which he had thought about earlier.
“By the way, can I ask when you’re thinking of studying abroad?”
“Studying abroad?”
Hearing Lee Hyun-woo’s question, Lee Hwan looked puzzled, then soon realized what he was talking about and exclaimed.
“Ah… that… you mentioned it initially, right?”
“Yes, that’s correct. I’m a man of my word.”
“……”
A brief silence followed.
Then Lee Hwan shook his head and spoke.
“I haven’t thought about it yet.”
Lee Hyun-woo’s eyes widened, as he had intended to offer the opportunity if Lee Hwan wanted to study abroad.
“You haven’t thought about it? Why?”
“I do have thoughts of studying abroad. But I want to see a bit more how my products perform in the market.”
Lee Hyun-woo looked at Lee Hwan’s face once more.
‘Was he always like this?’
Suddenly, scenes from his previous life, where he had interacted with Lee Hwan, came to mind.
Lee Hwan was a designer introduced to him when he started the fast fashion brand at 【Duksung】.
However, Lee Hyun-woo dismissed Lee Hwan, who couldn’t handle the young sensibility, and he soon walked the path of a fallen designer.
‘To think he changed 180 degrees.’
The arrogant Lee Hwan had disappeared from his memory, and now a humble Lee Hwan was sitting in front of him.
Lee Hyun-woo smiled broadly and said.
“Then please let me know anytime later.”
“Well… I’m not sure if I’ll feel like going later… No, to be precise, I do want to study design abroad, but if I keep having new challenges like now, I feel like I might postpone it.”
“Ah, yes, I think I can understand that.”
Lee Hyun-woo also had similar feelings recently.
In his previous life, he set tight schedules and perfect goals, living his life accordingly. But in this life, he was living flexibly, changing according to the flow even if he had decided once.
He would probably continue to do so.
He realized that such a life was better than the stress of not achieving goals and plans.
When these thoughts reached this point, Lee Hwan changed the subject.
“By the way, I heard that a close friend of mine joined 【Jungle】 recently…”
“Oh? Who are you talking about?”
“His name is Jang Kang-hyun.”
Lee Hyun-woo’s eyebrows raised.
“Oh? Do you know him?”
“Yes, he’s a senior from university. And someone I respect a lot, with skills that are top-notch anywhere.”
“No wonder… He seemed extraordinary during the interview.”
“Did he? I was worried because he’s a bit stubborn and lives in his own world.”
“I saw that part positively. I felt like he does his job perfectly and gives his best. So I recently appointed him as a team leader.”
This time, Lee Hwan was surprised.
“Wow, he was given a significant role right after joining. This… it shows how impressive he is, but I think it also shows how amazing the CEO is.”
“I have high expectations. The world will increasingly value design.”
Lee Hwan smiled contentedly at Lee Hyun-woo’s words.
Of course, how could he not feel good when his field was being praised?
However.
‘I hope that senior adapts well… He doesn’t get along well with others, so I’m slightly worried.’
Suddenly, he recalled Jang Kang-hyun, who was slightly lacking in social skills.
He had left his previous job due to bankruptcy, but before that, he had boldly quit, saying he didn’t get along with others.
So he could only hope that there would be no problems at 【Jungle】.
Meanwhile, Lee Hyun-woo recalled the Altago conversation he had with the two young ladies earlier.
‘Since we’ve created a new design team, it’s time to start utilizing it.’
