Meanwhile, at the same time, Kim Tae-hyun was holding his aching head and sitting at the breakfast table.
As expected, his parents’ nagging began.
“Why do you drink so much?”
“Right? You should control yourself a bit, especially with the wedding coming up.”
For the past two years, Kim Tae-hyun had found a way to mitigate their nagging.
“You’re right. But yesterday, Hyun-woo offered to buy me a drink.”
“Hyun-woo?”
“Does he like drinking?”
“He doesn’t seem to, but he went to Mars for a bit regarding the 3D printer issue and felt it would be awkward to leave right away… So, I ended up drinking a lot.”
As expected, the nagging stopped at the mention of Lee Hyun-woo’s name.
Especially, Kim Sung-moo immediately showed curiosity.
“3D printer? The place you invested in last time?”
“Yes, that’s right. The company is called 【X-Cycle】, and since the investment, they’ve been accelerating their research and finally developed both commercial and personal 3D printers. They’re building a factory, so it seems like a new era is about to begin.”
“Haha… The era of regular printers hasn’t even fully proliferated yet, and now a 3D printer era? Isn’t that too forward-thinking?”
“They have different uses. And regular printers already have companies that developed them first and dominated the market, but the 3D sector is completely untapped. A blue ocean will soon open.”
It sounded reasonable.
And since not much money had been invested, Kim Sung-moo nodded approvingly while looking at Kim Tae-hyun.
‘Hyun-woo has such a strong image of innovation that this kid must want to emulate him.’
He had sensed it at some point last year.
His son was in a friendly competition with Lee Hyun-woo.
Of course, it wasn’t a fair competition since Lee Hyun-woo had almost created something from nothing, starting from a different point.
However, unlike Lee Hyun-woo who focused on software and online, Kim Tae-hyun was concentrating on visible hardware.
As he thought about this, the youngest in the family, Kim Na-yun, who always spoke her mind, jumped in.
“Come to think of it, brother-in-law is a blessing to our family.”
“What?”
“Isn’t it true? I heard that 【Guseong】 has gained significant profits thanks to brother-in-law. Even outside the company, aren’t oppa and the sisters continuously getting help from him in business?”
Since Kim Na-yun’s words were true, there was an instant silence.
Then, the second daughter Kim Ah-jin smirked and said,
“Well, you’re not wrong. Thanks to brother-in-law, 【First Wool】 has a new online fashion mall driving its growth, and the 【Internet Art Gallery】 we were advised to invest in has recently been gaining attention from artists, significantly improving 【Guseong】’s image.”
“See? Oppa and both sisters are the biggest beneficiaries. Isn’t that right?”
Kim Ah-young couldn’t easily nod at this bold question.
‘Hyun-woo might end up being disliked.’
As always, Kim Ah-young was cautious because she couldn’t understand what her mother, Jang Hee-jin, was thinking.
She might have thought that the families should be well-matched.
Should she say it was fortunate?
Jang Hee-jin said this to her two daughters.
“Our family isn’t one that only receives. We’ll repay even more in the future, so stop talking about it. Especially you, the youngest, why are you so excited? Praise your dad and brother like that. Is it nothing compared to Hyun-woo for you? Is it?”
“Huh? No, that’s absolutely not it. Well… Of course, dad and oppa’s contributions to the national economy are incomparable. What I mean is…”
Kim Na-yun stammered, and before she could make a mistake, Kim Ah-young intervened.
“To Na-yun, Hyun-woo probably feels like a celebrity. She didn’t have any celebrity crushes during school, unlike me and Ah-jin. Right?”
“Huh? Oh, yeah, unnie. Actually, I’m a big fan of brother-in-law. But really, the person I respect the most is dad, and these days I’m also amazed by all the new things oppa is creating. Oh, right! Speaking of which, when is the PDA that oppa mentioned coming out? I’m really looking forward to it.”
“Oh, the PDA? It will probably be released after the honeymoon.”
It circled back to Kim Tae-hyun, who finally spoke up.
But of all things, the PDA was also a product made thanks to Hyun-woo, so Kim Sung-moo thought,
‘Come to think of it, Na-yun is right. Hyun-woo is indeed a blessing to our 【Guseong】.’
He thought it wouldn’t be bad to strengthen their ties further and to push for the marriage with Kim Ah-young more quickly.
This is why after finishing breakfast, Kim Sung-moo said this to Jang Hee-jin.
“Once Tae-hyun’s wedding is over, shouldn’t we meet with them soon?”
“Yes, I was thinking about it. But I’m still worried about the big difference between our families…”
“This time, just focus on the person. The family is important too, but thinking about Hyun-woo, there’s no one to compare to.”
Jang Hee-jin nodded, seemingly acknowledging this.
“Alright. Once Tae-hyun’s wedding is over, I’ll contact the people who will become our in-laws.”
Unaware that the conversation at his breakfast table also took place at the 【Guseong】 family breakfast, Lee Hyun-woo went to work still suffering from a hangover.
“My condition is really bad today.”
On top of drinking too much the previous day, he had unsettling dreams, which made it worse.
“I need to aim for balanced development, just like in the dream.”
He had always thought about it, but now he was more determined.
He decided to focus on balanced societal development along with technological advancement.
“First, starting with our company and then expanding outward.”
Thinking of his surroundings, he recalled the conversation he had with Kim Tae-hyun the previous day and how 【Guseong】 stepping in could change South Korea.
“I need to reduce Tae-hyun hyung’s workload.”
With that thought, Lee Hyun-woo sought out Han Se-jin.
Then he said,
“Please call Director Woo.”
Moments later, Woo Sang-won came in and asked,
“You called for me?”
“Oh, do you know when the PDA is scheduled for release?”
Lee Hyun-woo asked this question, intending to check the PDA first, but the schedule was quite tight.
“By the end of March.”
By the end of March, Kim Tae-hyun would be returning from his 14-day honeymoon.
“Indeed, there’s a mountain of work.”
He recalled sensing Kim Tae-hyun’s stress level the previous day.
He felt it might be due to the heavy workload, and now it was confirmed. With the data center, the wedding, and the PDA release, it was a killing schedule.
“It reminds me of Jung-woo becoming a workaholic.”
Kim Tae-hyun was no different.
But why did they become like this?
The answer was very simple when he asked himself.
“It’s definitely because of me.”
He had always thought his younger brother Lee Jung-woo became a workaholic because of his genes.
But it was him constantly pushing Kim Tae-hyun to create new innovations like the data center and PDA.
“Damn…”
He felt guilty. Especially after having a vivid dream the previous night where he saw a high-ranking grim reaper’s concerns, he felt even worse now that it was confirmed.
Particularly since Kim Tae-hyun was about to get married, he worried about the new groom being too absorbed in work.
“I shouldn’t just push everything to 【Guseong】.”
It seemed necessary to distribute tasks evenly to alleviate Kim Tae-hyun’s work addiction.
With that thought, Woo Sang-won’s voice reached his ears.
“Since we’re on the topic, I have a plan related to the PDA operating system, if I may take a moment of your time?”
“Of course. Please go ahead.”
“It’s just that, while discussing active big data and Linos with you the other day, I came up with an idea.”
Lee Hyun-woo blinked and replayed the conversation in his mind.
He immediately recalled the conversation and Woo Sang-won’s expression back then.
“Right, he had an epiphany look on his face.”
What was the result?
The answer came from Woo Sang-won’s mouth.
“We plan to create a programming language and open-source with three other directors.”
“Programming language and open-source?”
“Simply put, it’s the foundation to enable software and web development using tools unique to our 【Jungle】.”
“I see.”
“Furthermore, it’s for the operating systems of the smartphones, servers, supercomputers, and embedded devices you mentioned.”
Lee Hyun-woo’s eyes widened.
It all sounded good, but the goals seemed too ambitious, which could lead to overworking.
“Damn, could it be that working with me turns people into workaholics?”
Because of the dream, he wanted to correct this right away.
So, Lee Hyun-woo cautiously suggested,
“It sounds great, but you won’t rush it, right?”
“Excuse me?”
“Director Woo, sometimes when you start a project, you tend to hit the gas pedal without considering the consequences. Last year, you stayed up several nights preparing for the open recruitment.”
“Oh, yes… that’s true. But this time it’s different. As you mentioned, I’ll pace myself, and I plan to handle this project with external companies.”
Finally, Lee Hyun-woo’s expression relaxed.
Then he asked,
“Which external companies are you referring to?”
“First, a company well-versed in programming languages, which you probably know well. The company is 【Ghost】, famous for its Korean programming language.”
“Of course, I know.”
“And a multimedia production tool company called 【Type Soft】.”
“Oh, hahaha…”
He knew that place well too.
The reason Lee Hyun-woo laughed was simple.
He realized his worry about Woo Sang-won and others becoming workaholics was unfounded.
“They plan to work with external partners.”
Unlike before, it seemed Woo Sang-won had grown.
He wasn’t pushing projects recklessly; instead, he planned to handle them with external help.
“Still, to be sure, I’ll need to recruit significantly this time.”
With limited manpower, achieving true work-life balance is impossible.
Having a lot of work but telling people to relax is contradictory.
“This year’s goal isn’t growth. It’s to eliminate complaints about being overworked at our company!”
Though not an easy task, he set it as his goal and then called Goo Man-ho to finalize the number of new hires.
“100 experienced hires, 100 regular new hires, 100 interns, and finally, 100 part-time workers.”
【Jungle】 had about 600 employees.
Last year’s open recruitment brought them close to 500, and with continuous recruitment until now, they reached 600.
But was he planning to add 400 more to make it 1,000?
“You really plan to hire the most people ever.”
Goo Man-ho couldn’t help but be surprised.
