A few more days passed since then.
Everything seemed to be going smoothly for the people around Lee Hyun-woo.
Kim Na-yoon was attending her classes more passionately, and his younger brother, Lee Jung-woo, was meeting Yoo Hoseon more frequently.
Seeing this, Lee Hyun-woo smiled contentedly.
‘Thank goodness. I thought he only knew how to work.’
At this point, he felt it was okay to hope that his younger brother could form a progressive relationship with Yoo Hoseon.
‘Shall I start talking with Hyung Tae-hyun?’
Thinking about this, Lee Hyun-woo shook his head.
He remembered what Kim Ah-young had said last time.
That he was overly sensitive only about his younger brother’s matters, unlike other issues.
He found himself losing objectivity again over Lee Jung-woo’s “some” (potential romantic relationship) and questioned himself.
‘Bringing Yoo Hoseon to our company just because Jung-woo is interested in her?’
It was a ridiculous notion.
‘Alright, let’s compromise a little.’
While he admitted he had lost objectivity, it was worth considering whether Yoo Hoseon was a talent that 【Jungle】 should accept.
Setting aside her connection with Lee Jung-woo, she was a talent that 【Guseong】 had nurtured with the best scholarships.
‘I should activate the talent development part.’
It was an opportunity to utilize the talent development part that was established when the corporate organization was reorganized last year.
Lee Hyun-woo immediately summoned Koo Man-hoe.
He was the former CEO of 【Internet Goblin Market】 and had run 【Online Headhunter】.
However, due to a faulty investment contract, he was undergoing a trial and had agreed to take charge of the talent development part at 【Jungle】 until the verdict was out.
Thus, whenever Lee Hyun-woo called for him, he always started with the following words.
“How is the trial going?”
“Thanks to the CEO’s concern, it’s going well.”
The company’s legal team was helping out.
However, Lee Hyun-woo had already heard that the outcome might not be favorable.
‘It must be painful.’
While work-life balance was important, at times like this, it might be better to bury oneself in work a little.
“Actually, I called you to look into someone.”
“If it’s someone, are you talking about scouting?”
“Something similar. She is a talent nurtured by 【Guseong】, and she’s a senior at KIST. She seems to be planning to go to KIST graduate school after graduation, but could you look into her just in case?”
“Of course, I should. By the way, I’m curious who she is, seeing the CEO mention her directly.”
“She’s a senior in the Computer Science department, Yoo Hoseon…”
Before Lee Hyun-woo could finish his words, Koo Man-hoe reacted in surprise.
“What?”
Lee Hyun-woo quickly asked.
“Why? Do you know her?”
“Of course. She’s a student who almost monopolized awards in various program development competitions. She won the grand prize in competitions hosted by the Ministry of Science and KIST in the last two years.”
“Really? I didn’t know.”
In fact, there had been program development competitions even before 【Jungle】 came to the surface.
They were held by government agencies, universities, and private computer academies in collaboration.
Since the end of the year when 【Jungle】 started gaining attention, the number of such competitions had increased significantly.
Among the most prestigious were those held by the Ministry of Science and KIST.
“If you mentioned her without knowing, it must be information obtained from the 【Guseong】 side.”
“Pardon? Ah, yes… that’s right.”
Strictly speaking, she was someone introduced to Lee Jung-woo by Kim Ah-young.
So, it could only be information received from 【Guseong Group】.
“I’ll do more research, but even with the information we have now, there’s a lot to report about her. However, our side also found that she hopes to become a research professor at KIST, so we thought she wouldn’t enter the job market…”
“The probability of that is indeed high. But if we bring her in, she will be a valuable asset to 【Jungle】.”
“Right. But even if she enters the job market as a 【Guseong】 scholar, it seems difficult for her to go elsewhere.”
“We’ll have to deal with that too. Anyway, bring me the report.”
“Alright, I’ll look into it more and report back.”
Lee Hyun-woo nodded.
At the same time,
‘This is a talent we need to bring in, even aside from Jung-woo.’
Lee Hyun-woo, who was still losing objectivity, smiled as he hoped the report would come quickly.
A few days later.
Yoo Hoseon’s report came in.
Lee Hyun-woo read it thoroughly from start to finish and concluded after reading it all.
‘With this, she’s definitely a talent we must bring in.’
Naturally, Kim Tae-hyun came to mind.
In any case, Lee Hyun-woo would have frequent meetings with Kim Tae-hyun in the future.
The completion of the data center was imminent, and he was rushing because he was about to get married.
So, Lee Hyun-woo headed to the 【Guseong Electronics】 headquarters in Suwon after contacting him.
On the way, his phone rang, and he answered.
(Hyun-woo? It’s Jamie.)
Jamie Wang, the head of 【Yaho】, contacted him in a friendly manner.
“Oh, yes, hello!”
(Are you doing well?)
“Of course. I’m doing well. How about you, Jamie?”
(It couldn’t be better.)
Jamie Wang, who was positive, was showing an increasingly cheerful voice as time passed, unlike when they first met.
‘That’s why we can maintain a cooperative competitive relationship.’
If they had only been wary of and checked each other, would 【Yaho】 have been able to use 【Jungle】’s search engine?
Lee Hyun-woo thought not.
To talk about win-win situations, one must also calculate the other party’s benefit, and in a situation where it seemed like 【Jungle】 was gaining more, Jamie Wang boldly aimed for maximizing 【Yaho】’s benefits.
Thanks to that, 【Yaho】 was also doing well now.
Ordinary users wouldn’t know that the search engine they were using on 【Yaho】 was from 【Jungle】.
It was only known through media and to those who were experts or had a keen interest.
Ultimately, the lifeline of a portal site was search, and solving that issue allowed them to maintain the number one spot in the U.S.
(Actually, I have something to ask you.)
Going further, Jamie Wang aimed for an open cooperative competitive relationship.
He often mentioned low-level 【Yaho】 business plans, and knowing this, Lee Hyun-woo also revealed part of his plans, strengthening their cooperative competitive relationship.
Perhaps because of this, Jamie Wang did not hesitate to ask questions, and Lee Hyun-woo, in a stance of welcoming any questions, said.
“Yes, please go ahead.”
(I heard that the 【Jungle】 data center will be completed soon.)
“That’s right. I mentioned it once before, didn’t I?”
(Yes, I’m sorry, but I didn’t really pay attention back then. But looking back now, I really feel the need for data storage capacity.)
“I’m sure you do.”
From a text-based portal site, it had transitioned to incorporating graphics, and now it was impossible to survive without graphics, so they couldn’t help but worry about storage capacity.
Knowing this, Lee Hyun-woo had mentioned it several times, but Jamie Wang was now speaking as if she had just realized it.
‘Experience is indeed important.’
Lee Hyun-woo had lived a previous life once.
Although he didn’t work in IT, wouldn’t there have been data centers at Duksung?
Even on a small scale, having experience operating a data center, Lee Hyun-woo nodded and responded to her.
“Actually, this is just the beginning. The speed at which ADSL is being installed in the U.S. is increasing day by day, so soon they will handle not only photos and MP3 files but also videos…”
(Yes, I couldn’t help but think about that part too. So, I looked into companies that specialize in building data centers. I even inquired with 【IMB】 and others. But the cost was really not cheap. It felt like they were naming their price. And well, the cost aside, they didn’t have experience building a data center of the scale 【Jungle】 is constructing, so I felt a bit uneasy.)
This statement showed how much she trusted Lee Hyun-woo.
It was understandable. So far, Lee Hyun-woo’s choices had never been wrong.
The data center was no exception.
It could cost an astronomical amount, and it was uneasy to entrust it to an inexperienced company.
But if it was a place Lee Hyun-woo had chosen, it was natural for it to be a review target.
‘Oh? This looks like I’m going to give another gift to Hyung Tae-hyun.’
Thinking this, Lee Hyun-woo brought up 【Guseong Electronics】.
“Oh, we entrusted our data center to 【Guseong Electronics】. If you want, should I introduce you to them?”
(Yes, that’s exactly what I wanted.)
“Got it. I’m on my way to 【Guseong Electronics】, so I’ll mention it when I get there.”
(Alright, I’ll wait for your call.)
After hanging up, Lee Hyun-woo smiled.
‘As the development of information and communication technology accelerates, booms are happening here and there like a flood.’
The timing was perfect.
To bring in a new talent like Yoo Hoseon, something had to be given.
‘I can trade the data center contract for this.’
In terms of scale, Lee Hyun-woo was at a disadvantage.
But anyway, 【Yaho】 had to build a data center, and Jamie Wang wanted a reliable recommendation.
In other words, it meant she could inquire with 【Guseong Electronics】 even without Lee Hyun-woo.
Thus, depending on the perspective, the weight could tilt towards Lee Hyun-woo when comparing the super developer talent and the data center contract they would get anyway.
But the more complicated the calculation, the more it hurt the head.
‘This is a win-win situation.’
Simplifying it like this, Lee Hyun-woo defined it.
A while later.
Kim Tae-hyun welcomed Lee Hyun-woo and simultaneously mentioned the two topics he talked about the most recently.
“We’re going on a 14-night, 15-day honeymoon this time. Since I won’t be around for a while, I need to wrap up the data center.”
Kim Tae-hyun, who met Lee Hyun-woo in Suwon today, also mentioned ‘wrap-up’ again.
In fact, while the data center was something Lee Hyun-woo was looking forward to, Kim Tae-hyun had higher expectations.
Once it was successfully completed and word spread that 【Jungle】 was using it well, he planned to ramp up promotions.
“Looking back now, it’s quite amazing. How did you even come up with the concept of a data center? I heard they are considering its adoption in the U.S.?”
“I just pieced it together. Originally, it was called a machine room or a computer room, then it became a server room, and the term IDC came up. Knowing that IDC stands for Internet Data Center, I mentioned it.”
“……”
“Moreover, to gather the servers, storage, and network equipment that we operate at 【Jungle】, it couldn’t be anything but enormous in size. So, I asked you to scale it up.”
In fact, the concept of a data center emerged around the early 2000s in his previous life.
Back then, as the dot-com era began to grow in earnest, various places started building data centers, and now, with the completion of 【Jungle】’s data center, it was like bringing it forward by a few years.
