Due to Lee Hyun-woo, conversations at 【Guseong】 were changing.
A few days later, during breakfast, Kim Ah-young heard the voice of her youngest sibling.
“Oppa, why is 【Guseong Electronics】 hiring so few people this time?”
“Hiring so few? It’s still the company that hires the most people in our country… No, more importantly, why are you suddenly interested in this?”
“I’m now a proper university student studying economics. I can’t help but be interested in macroeconomic indicators, especially the unemployment rate. Many places went bankrupt last year, so many people lost their jobs. On the other hand, our 【Guseong Group】 recorded the highest growth ever. Shouldn’t we be hiring more people?”
“……”
“……”
“……”
“……”
For a moment, the family was at a loss for words.
Though she was right, there were always circumstances.
Should he explain everything in detail?
Kim Tae-hyun looked at his father, Kim Sung-moo.
The youngest’s lack of practical sense had to be suppressed by the father’s authority.
However, it wasn’t the atmosphere for a separate discussion.
‘Well, if I can’t explain this properly, it would be an issue with my authority as the eldest son.’
Kim Tae-hyun had no choice but to step in again.
“I don’t need to explain this to you, but since you asked, listen carefully. Our company is hiring the most new employees among the groups conducting public recruitment this year. If we hire more, it would be like recruiting unnecessary personnel.”
“I think differently. From what I see, the working hours at 【Guseong Electronics】 are too long. Most entry-level employees start early in the morning and leave late at night, assuming that almost no one adheres to the clock-in and clock-out times. Why do you think that is? Because there’s a lot of work, right? There’s a saying that at 【Guseong Electronics】, people pour their souls into making products.”
“You… are listening to strange rumors.”
“No, someone who used to work at 【Guseong Electronics】 said so.”
“Who from our company?”
“I can’t say. I have to protect the whistleblower.”
In fact, one of the uncles taking the same class had said that.
He left 【Guseong Electronics】 for another job, but he said it was the worst choice.
- I should have stayed in the product planning team at 【Guseong Electronics】, even if it meant pouring my soul into it.
That comment prompted Kim Na-yoon to inquire further, leading her to learn more in-depth details.
“Hmph, hmph.”
Finally, her father, Kim Sung-moo, stepped in.
“Na-yoon, I hope you don’t make big judgments from small things.”
“Yes? Oh, that could be… but I…”
“Let’s stop talking about this here.”
“Right, you know your brother is busy these days, right? He has to work and prepare for his wedding, but does he have to be interrogated by his youngest sister from breakfast?”
Following her father, her mother, Jang Hee-jin, chimed in.
“Geez, I really have no one on my side in this house.”
At that moment.
“Na-yoon, I’ll take your side.”
The family turned their gaze to Kim Ah-young, who suddenly spoke up.
For a moment, Kim Ah-young was flustered.
‘Ah, I spoke without realizing it…’
She, too, seemed to be influenced by spending time with Lee Hyun-woo lately.
At least at 【Jungle】, employees were not overworked to the point of pouring their souls into the job.
It looked good. It even made her think of hiring more staff at 【Seorabeol Hotel】 in the future.
“Ah… I mean… I’ll try to talk her around…”
But discussing this at the dining table was inappropriate.
It might come across as comparing Lee Hyun-woo’s and her father’s management philosophies.
Fortunately, her sister fell silent after this, and no one else brought up the topic.
‘Phew…’
Kim Ah-young sighed as she heard the sound of someone putting down their spoon.
Then, someone got up and said.
“Looks like Na-yoon is going through a late adolescence…”
It was Kim Tae-hyun.
That statement likely meant he would interpret it as a reasonless rebellion of adolescence.
“……”
Kim Ah-young tightly held Kim Na-yoon’s thigh, who was about to flare up again.
She then shook her head side to side, and Kim Na-yoon barely closed her mouth.
After the meal, Kim Ah-young called her aside and said.
“Na-yoon, if you keep saying things like that, it will create a bad atmosphere at home… and it will put Hyun-woo in a difficult position.”
“Huh? My brother-in-law?”
“Yes. Who else do you think could influence your thoughts in our house? No one. So who would be the next person they think of? At least dad and mom will think it’s Hyun-woo.”
“Really? Why?”
“Dad even told Hyun-woo directly last time to minimize media exposure. Our parents may seem inattentive, but they are always watching.”
“Ah…”
“They might start watching you closely, too. Because of what happened today…”
Here, ‘watching closely’ means investigating thoroughly.
In other words, they would want to find out what Kim Na-yoon is up to.
Naturally, Kim Na-yoon’s expression hardened.
“That can’t happen…”
“Of course not. Your freedom could be taken away.”
“Yeah, I really hate that.”
“So be careful in the future. There’s no need to bring it up in front of dad and mom.”
“Then to oppa?”
“Well, that’s not good either, but if you really want to, it’s better to talk to him separately.”
If you speak to Kim Tae-hyun for a few words, he will say okay out of annoyance.
Kim Ah-young herself doesn’t bring up unnecessary topics in front of her dad and mom because of similar experiences.
“You’re not a high school student anymore, right? In other words, as a university student, you’re practically a pre-professional, so you need to take responsibility for your words and actions. Think carefully about what consequences your words and actions might bring.”
“Okay, unnie. I was rash this time.”
“Good. I’ll tell them I talked it over with you.”
“Okay.”
Indeed, social experience is important.
Kim Ah-young’s way of assessing and handling situations showed that she hadn’t lived 29 years for nothing.
And when she told her parents and Kim Tae-hyun that she had clearly explained it to her younger sister,
“She needs to grow up quickly.”
“Indeed.”
“She’ll get better now.”
Everyone seemed relieved.
However, Kim Ah-young understood each perspective.
As management, they couldn’t indiscriminately increase hiring, and she couldn’t ignore that Kim Na-yoon was influenced by the people at the academy run by the 21st Century Venture Business Association recently.
‘I should discuss this with Hyun-woo.’
Strangely, despite similar social experiences, Lee Hyun-woo’s wisdom felt like it came from decades of experience.
So she thought he might have the answer this time too and sought him out in the evening.
Hearing about the morning’s incident at the 【Guseong】 household, Lee Hyun-woo’s eyes widened.
“Did Na-yoon really say that?”
“Yes, it seems like she was influenced by the academy… She’s not wrong, but it’s hard for dad or oppa to explain it properly.”
Lee Hyun-woo nodded.
He didn’t need to see the breakfast table atmosphere at Kim Ah-young’s house to know it was tense.
Indeed, Kim Na-yoon’s words were not wrong, but it was hard for anyone who had run a business to accept them easily.
Every place had its own established system, and hiring decisions were made within that framework.
So no matter how well a company was doing, if it hired too many people, it would inevitably face problems with unsustainable labor costs later.
‘But the part about pouring their souls into the job isn’t entirely wrong.’
Given the current state of 【Guseong】 in 1998, it would be strange if such rumors weren’t circulating.
Recently, memory semiconductor capacity had been doubling almost every year.
In his past life, there was something called “Moore’s Law,” which stated that the performance of semiconductor integrated circuits would double every two years. At 【Guseong】, this concept had changed to “Hwang’s Law,” named after Hwang Bong-kyu, the then-president, stating that the performance would double every year.
‘That theory was published in the year the World Cup was held in Korea. So it’s four years ahead of schedule in 1998?’
Besides memory semiconductors, products ahead of their time like mainframe servers and mobile phones were being released, so it wasn’t surprising that people at 【Guseong Electronics】 felt like they were pouring their souls into their work.
And that wasn’t all.
The industry rival, 【GB Electronics】, was also working hard to develop and release products to the market.
Just as minnows jump when the squid jumps, the entire electronics industry was significantly influenced.
As it became apparent that everyone was pouring their souls into their work, a collective workaholic culture was being generated.
‘So, am I the problem here?’
In fact, all of this was not unrelated to 【Jungle】.
To be more precise, it was due to the butterfly effect caused by Lee Hyun-woo.
Starting two years ago, when he caused a sensation with affordable computers, the information and communication industry in Korea began to thrive.
The demand for assembly PCs and their components increased, and companies like 【Guseong Electronics】, known for memory semiconductors, massively ramped up production.
Following the cyclical economy, the profits were reinvested to further advance memory semiconductors, resulting in a natural annual performance improvement.
The mainframe servers were also part of the butterfly effect caused by Lee Hyun-woo.
The components required for them were the same, and it would be repetitive to mention it again.
‘The side effects of rapid technological development manifest like this.’
Although he felt self-reproach, he didn’t get bogged down by it.
Had Lee Hyun-woo not intervened, inefficient soul-crushing labor would have only increased.
This wasn’t a rationalization.
Korea’s growth model had severe side effects in the middle.
This was known as the “side effects of rapid growth,” where focusing solely on economic growth led to issues like wealth redistribution and labor-management conflicts.
Suppressing these with power resulted in severe resistance and became a source of major social conflicts.
‘Time is the remedy.’
This was the conclusion Lee Hyun-woo arrived at.
However, time alone wouldn’t heal these issues.
They required proportional effort.
Especially in this life, since Lee Hyun-woo had exerted excessive influence in the information and communication technology field, he needed to make solid efforts in other areas, such as work-life balance policies and re-education for information and communication talents.
The next day, while attending a basic hardware class, he thought to himself.
‘Don’t worry, sister-in-law. I’ll change things.’
Acknowledging that he had led the rapid growth in information and communication technology, Lee Hyun-woo was committed to spending time mitigating its side effects.
This was another resolution of his.
