Lee Hyun-woo, who had been smiling, immediately shifted to a serious expression.
“That’s impressive. And it’s much faster than I expected.”
“It was well-designed from the start.”
“Is that so?”
“Yes, not just me, but my former colleagues were also surprised. Utilizing a dedicated program to access the web browser was something we had thought of, but we didn’t dare to execute it. I can’t help but admire Team Leader Lee and Team Leader Jang.”
“Team Leader Woo, what are you talking about? We just did it without knowing. In short, it was like an unskilled shaman accidentally catching a person.”
As the praise poured in, Jang Yoo-chul immediately responded modestly, but Woo Sang-won shook his head with an even more serious face than Lee Hyun-woo.
“That’s exactly the important part. Experienced people find such things too risky to attempt. Although Team Leader Lee and Team Leader Jang are skilled, being novices led to a better result.”
“Haha…”
Jang Yoo-chul forced an awkward smile, and Lee Hyun-woo gained an insight from listening to the two’s conversation.
‘Team Leader Woo is right. Sometimes, people who know nothing can make accidental discoveries and developments.’
In such cases, ignorance is bliss, and knowledge is a curse.
Since Lee Hyun-woo himself lacked basic web knowledge, he had been entirely dependent on his younger brother and Jang Yoo-chul.
Now that he thought about it, everything fell into place due to sheer luck.
Recognizing the risks, he couldn’t make reckless challenges.
Thoughts ended here.
It was time for Lee Hyun-woo to wrap things up.
They had been talking about the news service but had veered off topic.
“Now, portal site users won’t just come to play around with searches.”
In fact, since the blog service was also being thoroughly prepared, adding a news service would significantly increase the time netizens spent on Jungle.
To promptly push this matter forward, Lee Hyun-woo spoke again.
“This should be entrusted to Team Leader Han Se-jin and Kang Dong-ho.”
If those in the lab were fiercely fighting for development, outside, those two were working tirelessly.
Especially Han Se-jin, and Kang Dong-ho proved his capabilities by handling tasks like those for 【Korea Transport】.
‘They are also like unskilled shamans.’
Having just gained insight from Woo Sang-won’s words, Lee Hyun-woo felt that unskilled shamans could do anything.
So, he conveyed Woo Sang-won’s idea to the two of them, and they responded,
“We were also thinking it would be good if we had a news service for PC communications.”
“We’ll have to meet with each media outlet.”
Showing strong enthusiasm as expected.
With past life experience, Lee Hyun-woo knew how to manage this energy.
“Not right away. Rest well during Chuseok. The beta version hasn’t even come out yet.”
“Then when does the beta version start?”
“From this afternoon.”
“I look forward to it.”
“Me too.”
Lee Hyun-woo’s ears were filled with the two’s expectant voices.
But in fact, no one was more eager for the beta version of the portal site than Lee Hyun-woo himself.
‘It feels like it’s just beginning.’
The birth of the portal site could further vitalize the ecosystem Lee Hyun-woo had always talked about.
The unskilled shamans, repeating in his mouth all morning, were connected through the portal site, creating a tremendous synergy effect that made his heart tremble just imagining it.
However, as this ecosystem emerged, the likelihood of causing fatal damage to other ecosystems increased.
That was what came out of Kang Dong-ho’s mouth.
“By the way, PC communications will be surprised. If we also provide a news service, it will add another competitive service to them.”
“I heard that the higher-ups at PC communications are gathering to come up with measures.”
“Really?”
“Yes, as they’re losing users to Jungle, they must be in a hurry. If they stay still in this situation, they’ll be left behind, won’t they?”
Following Kang Dong-ho’s words, Han Se-jin shared a rumored story that brought a smile to Lee Hyun-woo’s face.
‘Even so, the trend is changing.’
The measures are obvious.
That was Lee Hyun-woo’s guess.
“PC communications are probably planning or preparing portal sites too. I heard from Team Leader Woo that 【Hi】 is also preparing a portal site with its own search engine.”
“Oh? Really?”
“Then why aren’t they launching the service?”
“PC communications are paid services. They run on a subscription basis, so can they easily launch a free portal site?”
“Ah…”
“Ah…”
Sometimes, even knowing the way, you can’t take it.
Lee Hyun-woo clearly understood that the PC communication companies were in that state now.
Of course, his sudden appearance in the middle of Korea’s IT history could have deviated the original path, but he thought it was highly unlikely that PC communications would slow down their downfall.
At the same time, a meeting of the four major PC communications providers was held, presided over by Song Gil-ho, the head of 【Hi】.
In fact, the growing sense of crisis led to this communication.
“The number of users has plateaued.”
“Is it stagnant there? For us, it’s decreasing.”
“This is serious. I heard recently that Jungle is launching a portal site, and this trend will likely accelerate.”
Someone finally brought up the portal site that Jungle was widely promoting.
Then there was a brief silence.
These people, vaguely aware that Jungle was the current trend, felt a bit deflated.
“An unskilled shaman catches people, indeed.”
“Exactly. I just thought the same thing.”
“Is there any sharp solution?”
“Well, I’m cautious that anything might backfire.”
Song Gil-ho frowned as he listened to people’s conversations.
Even 【Hi】 hadn’t increased its paid subscribers.
He even received reports that the number might decrease from next month.
The problem was that there was no clear solution.
“Then, do we just watch Jungle’s expansion with our eyes open?”
“Unless we provide a free service, it seems difficult.”
“Free service? That’s not an option. Then do we live by digging up dirt?”
Mostly, the revenue of PC communication companies depended on subscribers who paid 9,900 won.
If they gave that up, entering the red was obvious.
So, the traces of contemplating other revenue models flowed from their mouths.
“Is anyone here preparing for online shopping?”
“We are in the review stage, but we judge it difficult at the moment.”
“Same here. The market size for online shopping is not that large at the current stage.”
That’s true.
Of course, it doesn’t mean they wouldn’t enter, but they failed to persuade the higher-ups in the decision-making stage.
“Executives love numbers that represent market size too much.”
“Would they be satisfied with the overwhelming online market size of Jungle? They just dismiss it as a small shop in the industry and only tell us to increase PC communication subscribers, so this…”
“Ah, it’s also a problem that our developers’ minds are shaken. Have you heard about the working conditions at Jungle?”
“I’ve heard. It really made me mad.”
Finally, Song Gil-ho, who had been just listening to people’s stories, joined in.
He had confirmed that several developers, including Woo Sang-won, had already quit and moved to Jungle.
As such, he was one of those who prayed for Jungle’s failure with a sense of desperation.
“No matter what, without faster internet speed, it will be difficult for the portal site to succeed.”
“Indeed…”
“That’s also why we can’t hastily launch a portal site.”
“Right. Koreans can’t stand slow speeds. In that sense, should we celebrate that the ISDN from 【Korea Telecom】 isn’t that fast? Haha…”
The person who mentioned 【Korea Telecom】 looked at Song Gil-ho’s reaction.
【Hi】 was a subsidiary of 【Korea Telecom】.
However, Song Gil-ho, with an unbothered expression, said,
“Internet speed and portal sites are very closely related. Jungle will struggle this time.”
Although no clear solutions were obtained from today’s meeting, the sense of solidarity from strengthening their alliance grew.
To further this, his voice grew louder.
“Jungle is a free-rider on the market we built. If Jungle requests email intercommunication again, we must continue to reject it.”
“Of course.”
“Yes, I’ve also instructed that it must not be allowed.”
“Let’s hope Jungle’s portal site fails miserably and go have some makgeolli.”
“Makgeolli sounds good. I’ve been parched.”
The end of solidifying bonds is always a drinking session.
Tired of the meeting, everyone stood up at the mention of makgeolli.
However, they probably wouldn’t know that as soon as they entered the bar, Jungle’s portal site opened its beta service.
Or maybe, they’ll confirm the results tomorrow morning, rubbing their red noses.
At that time, 【Jungle Soft】 delayed everyone’s departure.
Lee Hyun-woo urged them to leave quickly,
“Why aren’t you going home?”
“We want to see it.”
“Me too.”
“I’m dying of curiosity.”
“Yes, I’m really curious about the results.”
Everyone stayed to check the number of portal site connections.
Unable to stop them, Lee Hyun-woo smiled, crossed his arms, and checked the numbers on the monitor displaying the number of connections.
‘This is fun.’
The monitor everyone was looking at.
For Lee Hyun-woo, it was an incredibly fascinating special program in operation.
The numbers on the screen were rising like a gas station meter, so how could they take their eyes off it?
Moreover, Yoo Jin-young was reading out the increased numbers every 15 minutes, making it more intriguing.
“We’ve surpassed 10,000 users, and it happened quickly.”
“20,000.”
“30,000!”
“40,000, wow…”
“50,000! 50,000! Can it rise this fast?”
“It’s just the initial rush. Everyone is curious and coming to see.”
To Yoo Jin-young, who asked the indefinite crowd, Lee Hyun-woo kindly explained while checking the clock.
It was 6 PM.
Jungle’s auction and shopping sites usually saw an increase in connections after 5 PM, and as expected, the portal site also began to rise from then, now reaching its peak.
Or so he thought, but the number of simultaneous connections kept increasing.
That was why Lee Hyun-woo couldn’t leave work either.
A little later, his younger brother Lee Jung-woo rushed into the office, panting.
“How’s it going?”
“We’ve surpassed 50,000! No, I think we’ll soon reach 60,000.”
“Wow, really?”
“Come and see for yourself!”
At people’s urging, Lee Jung-woo changed his facial expressions moment by moment as he looked at the screen.
Finally, he showed a satisfied look.
Then said,
“Hyung, I made that program. I got the idea from a gas station. Did I do well?”
Lee Hyun-woo laughed.
Though his brother forgot to call him CEO at work, today he wouldn’t scold him.
“Yeah, man. You did well, really well.”
An unskilled shaman is always right.
He would continue to nurture such unskilled shamans in the future.
