The next day, Lee Hyun-woo, CEO of Jungle, immediately convened a meeting.
He called in Woo Sang-won, his second-in-command, three technical directors, and ten team leaders, and then brought up a topic.
“Jamie Wang is visiting Korea. And it’s not just Korea; he’s visiting several countries, including China. I wonder if he’s coming to explore the Chinese market.”
No matter how desperate the situation, it was necessary to broaden the horizons of the key members to distribute leadership.
After completing this task, Lee Hyun-woo was planning to take a long vacation.
“I’d like to hear your opinions on the Chinese market.”
Was it because the question was sudden?
No one was quick to speak up.
Even those who usually stepped forward, like Oh Min-woo and Lee Jung-woo, remained silent.
It wasn’t out of caution, but because they didn’t know much about China.
At that moment, Hwang Do-hoon, who was in charge of the external cooperation team, stepped forward.
‘This is my chance to prove my presence.’
Always eager to showcase his abilities, he quickly began to speak.
“Well, facing both globalization and informatization, China cannot help but accept the internet.”
After opening the conversation, Hwang Do-hoon glanced at Lee Hyun-woo.
Lee Hyun-woo smiled and encouraged him.
“Ah, Team Leader Hwang. Please continue.”
“It might be a bit long. Is that okay?”
“Of course. By the way, you seem to have experience in China.”
“Yes, I visited a few times at my previous job.”
After saying that, Hwang Do-hoon cleared his throat twice and began talking about the informatization of China.
“Since a few years ago, the internet has started to connect in major cities and some provinces in China. But it hasn’t been fully opened. The reason for not deciding on full openness is simple. It’s because they don’t know how much the social conventions of the internet and democracy will affect the people of China.”
“Ah…”
“I see…”
As the young key members responded, Hwang Do-hoon became more enthusiastic in his explanation.
“Still, there will come a time when they cannot refuse full informatization. If we can unlock that solution, the Chinese market, with its enormous population, will bring in huge profits.”
“As expected…”
“That makes sense…”
“Personally, I don’t think Jamie Wang would miss this. Since our Jungle is already on the verge of entering Guangdong Province through Hong Kong, I think we will compete again with our cooperative competitor, Yaho, for the Chinese market.”
It seemed as if Hwang Do-hoon had a motor attached to his mouth.
This was also the scene where he had shown the most significant presence since joining Jungle.
‘Experience really can’t be ignored.’
Lee Hyun-woo was impressed inside.
At the same time, he felt relieved.
‘Our company’s young key members have always lacked experience, but it seems like Team Leader Hwang will fill that gap.’
While thinking that he would need to hire more experienced professionals like Hwang Do-hoon, Lee Hyun-woo turned his attention to Kang Dong-ho.
For some reason, he had a feeling that Kang Dong-ho would step in soon.
As Hwang Do-hoon’s story seemed to be wrapping up, Kang Dong-ho immediately spoke up.
“It feels like there’s a fire on our feet. The entry into Guangdong Province is slower than we expected.”
“Is that so?”
“Yes, the infrastructure is in place, so there’s no reason the portal site can’t work, but they keep making excuses. They claim the network is unstable, that there are issues with data transmission and storage… It seems like they’re trying to control the speed of opening the portal site.”
People nodded in agreement.
As Hwang Do-hoon mentioned earlier, it seemed that both the central and local governments in China had a mixture of necessity and fear regarding the portal site.
At this point, Lee Hyun-woo stepped in again.
“But in the end, they will open up. The collapse of the Soviet Union and Eastern European communism was partly because they missed the flow of information. China also had the same ideology and social system, but after Deng Xiaoping, they sought change, and they’re still on that path. If they reject an information society, it will be hard to catch up with neighboring countries or competitors, let alone govern internally. Information is directly connected to economic power.”
Hwang Do-hoon couldn’t help but be impressed by Lee Hyun-woo’s broad perspective.
It was the same now.
‘He’s really amazing. How can he be like that at such a young age?’
Being amazed is simple.
Most people here are talented.
Yet, they didn’t know much about China.
In fact, many Koreans don’t know much about China.
Hwang Do-hoon was different.
China had been awakening for some time, and it seemed like it would achieve remarkable economic development based on its enormous population.
What industry would try to miss such a market?
Jungle, leading the informatization era, was no different. He knew it was a place they must enter, so he had been researching more recently.
So, he actively responded to what Lee Hyun-woo said.
“I agree. However, they will try to control information technology. At the same time, they might think of using the internet as a means to strengthen authoritarian rule.”
“Yes, I think so too.”
“The problem is that I don’t know how to apply this to business. Compared to the people here, I’m not very knowledgeable in the technical field.”
“As for me, please exclude me. I’m learning the basics these days because I don’t know much.”
“I was planning to take a course as well.”
“Oh, really?”
“Yes, seeing the CEO squeeze in time to learn always made me feel ashamed. Since he set an example, I will also go and learn.”
In the end, although it seemed a bit flattering and like he was trying to connect himself somehow…
‘Anyway, this man’s perspective is sharp.’
He concluded tentatively and smiled.
Then he spoke.
“To break into China, we have to face it directly, so I’ll arrange a business trip.”
“…….”
“And I’ll take this opportunity to use some vacation time. How about a week of business trip and a week of vacation?”
“……!”
Exclamation marks appeared in people’s eyes.
For some reason, it seemed like Lee Hyun-woo brought up China just to say this.
But who could stop the CEO from going?
Although it felt a bit uneasy, everyone silently expressed their approval.
The problem arose a few days later.
It wasn’t so much a problem as it was that Lee Hyun-woo’s plan fell apart.
Kang Dong-ho brought some good news, though not entirely good news.
“Yesterday, as soon as Team Leader Hu arrived in Guangdong Province, it seems things went well.”
“What?”
Here, Team Leader Hu referred to Hu In-soo.
He was in charge of the overseas division of the external cooperation team, succeeding Kang Dong-ho.
For the past year, Kang Dong-ho had received a lot of help from Hu In-soo while breaking into Taiwan and Hong Kong.
‘He said he was of Chinese descent… I guess he knows China well.’
He remembered the man who said he had lived in Beijing for a few years and wanted to lead the charge into the Chinese-speaking region several times.
‘I feel a bit resentful.’
If this were the case, wouldn’t there be no need to go on a business trip to China?
It was funny to hope otherwise, so he told Kang Dong-ho.
“That’s good news. Keep checking and let me know immediately.”
“Yes, I already told Team Leader Hu to keep in touch frequently.”
Kang Dong-ho and Hu In-soo were working diligently.
Lee Hyun-woo nodded with a bitter smile.
The next day, they brought even better news.
“They got a conditional business permit.”
“Conditional?”
“It’s about not spreading content that undermines the state’s system, ideology, and moral values through the portal site.”
This wasn’t bad.
However, Lee Hyun-woo’s expression remained unchanged.
‘This is ambiguous. I can’t say I’ll go to China and solve this.’
If they had outright rejected it, there would be a reason to go.
But since it’s a conditional entry, he couldn’t help but hesitate.
It was because he couldn’t completely solve it just by going.
‘This is probably the best we can do.’
It seemed inevitable that he would have to postpone his long vacation.
Han Se-jin, who was with him without knowing this, tilted his head.
“This… it’s too vague, so I don’t know what to do. China is communist, and there are so many contents that differ from their system and ideology when using the portal…”
“That’s true. I don’t even know what moral values mean.”
“Sigh, it’s difficult, really difficult.”
Perhaps entering China was very important business for Jungle this year.
Seeing the two secretarial chiefs, who wanted as much success in China as they had in Japan, the U.S., Hong Kong, and Taiwan over the past two years, seriously discuss it, Lee Hyun-woo gave a simple answer.
“It’s not difficult. We just need to get the cooperation of the Guangdong provincial government.”
“What?”
“Cooperation?”
“We should involve them in every step until the portal site service is launched. We’ll handle the technical aspects, but we’ll ask them in detail what we can service and what we can’t.”
“But that will take more time.”
“And if we’re not careful, we might lose all the core parts.”
In the early days of diplomatic relations with China, from the perspective of a divided nation, the term ‘Communist China’ was used until recently, harboring vague rejection and fear of communism.
Another strength of Jungle was openness, sharing, and content, but if all of that were censored, only the shell would remain, as these two people feared.
So, Lee Hyun-woo reassured them with a smile.
“It might not take as long as you think. The portal site is just the beginning. We need to focus more on cultural content. For example, what ideology and system could be in games like Go or Omok? They are separate from moral values, so game content will spread rapidly.”
“Ah, then it would be okay to focus on Jungle Games services.”
“We’ll try one thing at a time. If we break through with Jungle Games and Jungle Music, cultural content will surely give us an advantage.”
In fact, culture spreads much more flexibly than politics or economics.
Moreover, if the Korean Wave hits, the portal site will become an indispensable search tool for the Chinese people.
If the Korean Wave fuels China’s informatization, Jungle, deeply embedded in the related industries, will have an absolute advantage.
“Starting is half the battle. Right now, we need confidence that we can succeed in Japan and the U.S. rather than negative thoughts that it might not work.”
As soon as he finished speaking, the two secretarial chiefs’ faces were filled with confidence in success.
The influence of Lee Hyun-woo’s words at Jungle was absolute.
On the other hand, Lee Hyun-woo had a mixed expression of liking and disliking, with a vague look.
‘This capable Team Leader Hu has completely ruined my plan to mix a business trip to China with a vacation.’
