Woo Sang-won immediately informed Lee Won-jong, the online shopping team leader, about Lee Hyun-woo’s congratulations.
It was one of the few times he had ever seen Lee Won-jong, who was once a colleague at 【Hi】, so delighted, which naturally increased his loyalty to the company.
This is why new people quickly feel a sense of belonging when they join 【Jungle】.
As the COO, it was easy to grasp the overall picture.
Unlike the old days at 【Hi】 where everyone was busy criticizing each other, at 【Jungle】, communication flowed smoothly regardless of rank, minimizing workplace stress and dissatisfaction.
This wasn’t just his own thought; it was a conclusion reached after asking each team leader’s opinion.
Recently, the only complaint was that people wanted to work more, but the company atmosphere kept trying to stop them.
‘Of course, it has to be this way.’
Woo Sang-won knew this from his own hard experiences.
At first, he eagerly created work to start with, but later found it hard to manage, becoming incredibly busy.
Currently, there were more than a few things in the troubleshooting phase.
One of them was the PDA operating system, and fortunately, it was about to be launched.
The project team Woo Sang-won had poured his heart into consisted of ten people and was directly under the COO, so their pride was strong.
They were all keenly focused on the success or failure of this PDA.
『【Guseong Electronics】, launching a new type of palm-sized PC!』
The reason they called the PDA a palm-sized PC was that the term was more accessible to the public.
The marketing department at 【Guseong Electronics】 later conveyed that they would replace it with the term PDA, and mentioned that public interest was significant.
Still, whether this interest would translate into actual purchases would only be known once the product hit the market.
For now, they had only informed the public through promotional articles.
‘I hope it goes well…’
Depending on its success or failure, the work of the COO’s direct team would change.
If it succeeded, they would go back to researching and developing the second version of the PDA, but if the market reaction was poor, they would disband and scatter to other parts.
Fortunately, Kim Tae-hyun, the executive director of 【Guseong Electronics】, had returned from his honeymoon, met with Lee Hyun-woo, and mentioned that more sales than expected had been made simultaneously with the PDA launch.
“So far, a thousand units have been sold.”
Considering it was a high-priced device, selling a thousand units initially was very encouraging.
“So, 【Guseong Electronics】 has decided to develop the second PDA.”
At this good news, Woo Sang-won’s face lit up.
“Wow, that’s really a relief. I was really nervous.”
“Really? I knew it would go well.”
“Well, as the former Nostradamus, you would obviously be able to predict the future, right?”
“Hahaha, yes, that’s right. Nostradamus’s eyes have worked once again. So, how about we make our own device this time?”
“Excuse me? Our own device?”
“Exactly, we wouldn’t be making it ourselves, but working jointly with a commissioned company.”
Another trial came to Woo Sang-won, who was already busy suppressing the soaring enthusiasm of his subordinates.
Just when he was about to forget, the representative’s eagerness to start new projects struck again.
“Um… it’s hard to manufacture a PDA with decent technical skills. Of course, seeing that 【Guseong Electronics】 opened a new market with their palm-sized PC, domestic and international manufacturers will take on the challenge…”
“Oh, I skipped over it in my head again.”
“Pardon?”
“We’re not talking about making a PDA. We’re talking about making a new device called an e-book reader.”
“An e-book reader?”
The term ‘e-book’ had existed for about 10 years.
Some books were actually published to be readable on computers.
However, there had been no commercial attempts to carry and use them like books.
‘Electronic books began to popularize from PDAs.’
For Lee Hyun-woo, past history served as an excellent reference.
Naturally, just following the sequence written in the answer notebook lowered the probability of failure.
For those unaware, there was always a fear of the unfamiliar.
“Um… Representative, since the e-book hasn’t properly come out yet, making an e-book reader seems… too risky.”
This was the reason why Woo Sang-won hesitated while giving advice.
However, Lee Hyun-woo confidently spoke again.
“It’s not risky. No, the risky attempt was already made with the PDA. Personally, I believe that with the establishment of the PDA, the era of e-books will begin. Then there will be a demand for an affordable device specifically for e-books.”
“Yes…”
“It won’t be difficult. Since your direct team has already created the PDA operating system, applying it to an e-book-only device shouldn’t be a problem, right?”
“Well, with a few tweaks, it could be done immediately.”
“Instead, since the workload may increase, I’d like you to augment your direct team’s personnel during the upcoming public recruitment.”
Since another version of the PDA would come out from 【Guseong Electronics】, it meant an additional task for the direct team.
So, nodding slightly at Lee Hyun-woo’s suggestion to hire more new employees through public recruitment, he agreed.
Honestly, the development wasn’t a difficult task.
However, this commissioned production was a burdensome matter.
“How about reconsidering? If it’s commissioned production, it means putting our company brand on it… If we incur losses…”
“Oh, that’s what worried you. Don’t worry. We’re prepared to take the loss.”
“Excuse me?”
In fact, Lee Hyun-woo intended to borrow the strategy that 【Amazones】 had deployed in his past life.
In his previous life, 【Amazones】 had created a sensation and gained attention when they launched their e-book reader, ‘Kindles.’
Even the initial models sold well despite poor readability and a lack of e-books, primarily because of the price.
At the time, 【Amazones】’s management lowered the price of the e-book reader, even at a loss of about $2.7 per unit sold.
The simple reason for giving up immediate profit was to secure future customers and open up 【Amazones】’s ecosystem widely.
“Instead, we plan to make e-book content sales our revenue model.”
“……”
“Did I go too far again?”
“It’s a bit challenging.”
“Then, I should revisit the console game stories of 【Nintento】 and 【Sonic】.”
“Huh?”
Woo Sang-won’s eyes grew wide as he let out a sudden exclamation of realization.
“I think I understand. You mean to make more profit from selling titles rather than the device itself, right?”
“Something like that.”
Lee Hyun-woo nodded with a smile.
He said “something like that” because it wasn’t exactly the same.
【Nintento】 and 【Sonic】 made money from selling devices as well, but 【Jungle】’s e-book reader would boldly forgo that to build an ecosystem.
Furthermore, it aimed at seizing future online content as well.
‘Let’s not mention the apps for now.’
He had already looked too far ahead.
It would be confusing enough to mention apps now, complicating Woo Sang-won’s thoughts further.
Fortunately, Woo Sang-won, in a much softer tone than before, asked Lee Hyun-woo.
“We need to secure e-book content.”
“Another task then.”
“The sales department can handle that much.”
“Alright, then I’ll leave it to you.”
Though they mentioned another task, Lee Hyun-woo wasn’t too worried since they planned to conduct the largest-ever public recruitment.
‘By the way, I’ll have to participate in the interviews again.’
Hopefully, they won’t be boring and will be fun interviews.
Should I call it lucky?
An incredibly new and interesting interview was awaiting Lee Hyun-woo.
“A drinking interview?”
“Yes… that’s right.”
Goo Man-hoe, seemingly worried that he might have said something too drastic, began to explain his reasoning while gauging Lee Hyun-woo’s reaction.
“Actually, such interviews are sometimes conducted in Japan or the West, not just in our country. It was introduced because it allows a clear understanding of new employees’ strengths and weaknesses… It might spark some controversy as it’s the first time in our country.”
“It might not match the current public sentiment.”
Lee Hyun-woo nodded with a smile.
‘A drinking interview… If it were the 21st century, it’s quite plausible.’
In his past life, companies conducted various types of interviews to accurately assess talent.
Besides drinking interviews, there were also sports game interviews to gauge loyalty and proactiveness, and women sometimes replaced participation in sports games with cheering.
The reason for such diverse interviews was the narrowing employment gate.
As job competition intensified, paradoxically, more high-caliber talents gathered, making it too difficult to differentiate by specs alone, thus adding sudden situations to assess adaptability.
“We plan to conduct it only for willing applicants. After the first interview, we’ll surprise them with it.”
“Suddenly announce a drinking interview?”
“Yes, that’s right. We’ll observe their reactions.”
“Wouldn’t most say they’ll participate if the interviewer suggests it?”
“Some might feel pressured. That’s the point. No extra points will be given for simply agreeing to participate. Conversely, politely declining to participate in the drinking session can also be a scoring criterion.”
“Not bad. There are people who can’t drink.”
“Yes, in fact, even those who can’t drink can participate. The scoring criterion will be whether they can match the atmosphere without drinking.”
“You’ve done a lot of research. No wonder you asked for business trips to Japan, the US, and Europe.”
“I’m always grateful for the company’s trust and investment.”
“Understood. I’m looking forward to this. A drinking interview…”
“If you could personally attend, it would be even better.”
“Of course, I must. I’m really looking forward to it.”
“Please don’t expect too much. High expectations can lead to great disappointment…”
“Even if I am disappointed, I must have high expectations because that’s just how I am. Don’t worry. I won’t show it later. Hahaha.”
“Haha…”
Goo Man-hoe gave an awkward laugh.
For some reason, he felt that Lee Hyun-woo might create an unexpected situation during the drinking interview.
Thus, Goo Man-hoe looked forward to it as much as Lee Hyun-woo did.
‘How the candidates handle the unexpected situation created by the CEO will also be a scoring criterion.’
In fact, in organizational life, simply being attuned to the atmosphere and reading the room well can get you far.
That middle layer forms the backbone and contributes to the company’s growth.
However, shortly after, during the actual drinking interview, Goo Man-hoe widened his eyes at Lee Hyun-woo’s unexpected move.
“If you were the CEO of 【Jungle】, what’s the first thing you would do? You have 30 seconds to answer.”
