Looking at the name that Lee Hyun-woo, the CEO of Jungle, liked, he repeated it to himself.
‘Nostradamus’s Blog.’
He immediately posted the first entry.
― What happened to the news about domestic production of the core digital terminal chip that we used to import entirely from the U.S. 【Qualcomm】?
― I heard a while ago that it was being developed by the government-funded 【Korean Information and Communication Research Institute】, but no updates yet.
― If this core chip development succeeds, the domestic production rate of CDMA mobile phones is expected to rise significantly from 30% to 60%.
― Also, since 【Guseong Electronics】 and 【GB Information and Communication】 were developing the same chip, they might cooperate with the 【Korean Information and Communication Research Institute】 for development support.
This was an applied version of a report Lee Hyun-woo wrote when he first joined the company.
At that time, his prediction of the domestic production rate was almost accurate, so the report was re-evaluated later.
That’s why he remembered it, but originally, Lee Hyun-woo’s memory was at the top level even among top talents.
Looking at the written post, he smiled.
‘This is just the groundwork. I’ll probably get some information soon.’
Lee Hyun-woo, who read the economic newspaper without fail, had not yet discovered the news about this chip’s development.
That meant it was almost imminent in terms of timing.
What would their expressions be if the blog obtained faster and more accurate information than the media?
‘Shall I try another one?’
The second post was international news.
― The upcoming G7 is said to promise a strong dollar in the Washington meeting.
― What happens if the dollar value rises?
― Profit for export companies.
― Decrease in overseas travel.
― Increase in interest rates.
He didn’t go into detailed explanations.
Anyway, if such hot information accumulates, people would gather.
Indeed, just around the end of the Chuseok holiday, comments started to appear on the first post.
― It seems you can’t use the name Nostradamus lightly. No matter what, we can’t surpass Silicon Valley’s technology.
― Core chip? Korean Information and Communication Research Institute? Are you writing a novel?
― Are you from 【Guseong】 or 【GB】? It looks like you’re trying to boost stock prices.
Luckily, since it was the early days of internet comments, the expressions were relatively polite.
Later on, the expressions would become much harsher.
‘No, I need to control that.’
Having lived in an era of hate, Lee Hyun-woo thought that it would be nice if it didn’t happen in the future and decided to attempt a clean comment culture early on.
For reference, the comments on the second post were of a similar level.
However, he received an email.
It was from a journalist.
― Hello, Mr. Nostradamus. I am Ju Jung-hyun, a reporter from 【Sejong Daily】. I am currently a correspondent in Washington. I happened to come across your blog while using the search service today, and I was surprised. The news that each country agreed on a strong dollar in an unofficial G7 meeting was announced just a while ago. But looking at your post, the content about the strong dollar was already there before the announcement. As mentioned above, it was an unofficial meeting, so high-ranking officials from each country were trying to hide the information as much as possible. I am really curious about how you knew about this. …(omitted)… If you are in Washington, I would like to meet you.
A gentle smile appeared on Lee Hyun-woo’s lips.
It was a time when the public had little interest in international news, and the amount of news coverage was very limited.
So, they probably assumed he was not living in Korea.
Also, it seemed the email was sent via the email on the blog.
‘Washington? I’m actually in Seoul.’
Thanks to his extraordinary memory, Lee Hyun-woo just came from the future.
He didn’t come to make fun of journalists, but it just happened to turn out this way.
May the media continue to deliver news a step behind ‘Nostradamus’.
After Chuseok, Lee Hyun-woo returned to work.
It felt like the office was busy processing the piled-up work during the long holiday.
The shorter the meetings during such times, the better. Keep instructions simple.
“Please do your best in your assigned tasks!”
He ended today’s meeting with this particular remark.
Instead, he said this to the management team that was organized before Chuseok.
“Please protect personal information as much as possible. Especially, maintain the stance that even we don’t know who the account owner is. Understood?”
“Yes, sir.”
This was a measure to prevent the identity of ‘Nostradamus’ from being exposed.
In fact, Lee Hyun-woo considered sports or entertainment cafes or blogs to be top search priorities.
Although it wasn’t a wrong prediction, he overlooked that each person had their own interests.
Like Ju Jung-hyun, the Washington correspondent for 【Sejong Daily】, who was sensitive to international news and could always find relevant news through searches.
If he had a tenacious personality, who knows if he would contact them.
But Lee Hyun-woo’s prediction was spot on.
That afternoon, 【Sejong Daily】 contacted them, and Yoo Jin-young, who received the call, asked Lee Hyun-woo.
“【Sejong Daily】 inquired if we could provide contact information for the blogger operating ‘Nostradamus’.”
“Of course, you said no, right?”
“Yes, CEO.”
“Well done. Please continue the same way.”
At that moment, Kang Dong-ho, who was listening to their conversation, suddenly asked.
“I also saw that blog.”
“Oh, really?”
“Actually, I’ve been constantly searching because of the news service. I would enter the article titles into the portal search box. Quite a few cafe posts and blogs reinterpreting and attaching their thoughts to articles that became hot topics in entertainment or sports were searched.”
“But Nostradamus’s posts aren’t about entertainment or sports.”
“No, but I read the G7 article on the subway while coming to work today.”
“So you searched?”
“I just wanted to try it. Surprisingly, there was a brief mention predicting the G7’s strong dollar declaration.”
“Yes, that’s right. I read it too.”
Kang Dong-ho, who knew that Lee Hyun-woo had been exploring newspaper articles recently, continued speaking, thinking it was a natural extension of regular activities.
“It was truly Nostradamus-level, just like the blog operator’s name.”
“Well, it’s like a cow stumbling and catching a mouse.”
“That could be. But the first post makes me genuinely curious.”
The first post was about the development of the core chip for CDMA terminals.
Here, Kang Dong-ho speculated the exact reason 【Sejong Daily】 called and said.
“Maybe 【Sejong Daily】 is sensitive to that information because the chairman’s wife of 【Guseong Group】 is the daughter of the owner of 【Sejong Daily】, right?”
“……”
“The blog mentioned the Korean Information and Communication Research Institute, but at the end, it said that 【Guseong】 and 【GB】 requested cooperation.”
“It’s all speculation.”
“Exactly. But if that speculation is true, wouldn’t 【Guseong】 and 【Sejong Daily】 be shocked?”
“Haha…”
Lee Hyun-woo laughed awkwardly as he hadn’t thought that far.
But it was a plausible story.
“Anyway, isn’t the prediction of an anonymous blogger being ahead of the news a good material to show the appeal of portals to the media?”
“Right. Actually, I’ve been waiting for an opportunity, and when I heard about the contact earlier, I thought the time had finally come.”
“So, you’re going there now.”
“Yes, I’ll go to 【Sejong Daily】 first.”
“You know very well to firmly refuse any requests to view personal information, right?”
“Of course. Then, I’ll be off.”
Watching Kang Dong-ho, who was busy moving again, Lee Hyun-woo smiled contentedly.
‘But will 【Sejong Daily】’s attitude change?’
Meanwhile, rather than 【Sejong Daily】, Kim Ah-young, the director of 【Seorabeol Hotel】, was keenly aware of the ongoing situation.
She listened carefully to the conversations among relatives during the Chuseok gathering at home.
In particular, she was always interested in discussions about 【Jungle】 mentioned by her maternal side.
She recalled the conversation between her cousin and her brother.
― Is it true that CEO Lee Hyun-woo of 【Jungle】 and Kim Yoon-sun are really dating?
― I don’t think so. A reporter followed both of them, and their meeting at the studio was the end of it. There was no evidence of them dating when looking at their movements before and after.
― But didn’t they approve the article release?
― Bro, these days, Lee Hyun-woo’s articles are oddly popular. We need to sell articles to readers. Of course, we should use scandal articles.
― Really?
― Reporters mainly search PC communications, right? They look at the most frequently mentioned words. Interestingly, Kim Yoon-sun was mentioned quite a lot. She was a washed-up singer. And when I looked, the proper noun that always stuck with her was Lee Hyun-woo.
― Ah… So, you can infer that way.
― Yeah, when I looked up Lee Hyun-woo individually on PC communications, he had a high favorability among both men and women in their teens and twenties. Especially among women in their twenties, it was overwhelming. Excluding celebrities or sports stars, of course.
Kim Ah-young felt oddly pleased to hear that they were not in any relationship.
Then, she also heard that a blogger from 【Jungle】 had posted information about the development of a core chip for mobile phones.
And that the chip was closely related to Guseong.
It was mentioned that the blogger could be a researcher at 【Korean Information and Communication Research Institute】, or a key person in 【Guseong】 or 【GB】.
If true, this would be quite problematic, concluding that they would seek cooperation from 【Jungle】, but Kim Ah-young couldn’t hold back and took the initiative.
After Chuseok, she quickly ordered to find out the situation, and when her secretary, Park Min-sook, appeared shortly after, she quickly asked.
“How did it go?”
“【Jungle】 said they absolutely wouldn’t disclose personal information.”
“However, the CEO should have that information, wouldn’t you agree?”
“He surely knows.”
“That’s most excellent.”
“What?”
“I need to meet CEO Lee Hyun-woo. To help my father and uncle.”
“……”
The pretext seemed plausible, but Park Min-sook’s eyes slightly wavered as she felt it was just an excuse to see Lee Hyun-woo.
A woman understands a woman’s heart well.
Recently, Park Min-sook vaguely sensed that Kim Ah-young had a favorable impression of Lee Hyun-woo.
The evidence was that Kim Ah-young had repeatedly regretted saying that the advertisement for 【Seorabeol Hotel】 had nothing to do with her.
She often muttered to herself, ‘I should have just said I did it.’
As a secretary, should she just leave this alone?
‘She always had such interest in ordinary people.’
Of course, Lee Hyun-woo was no longer becoming an ordinary person.
He was mentioned several times in the media as a future leader in the Korean information and communication industry.
But still, the daughter of Korea’s top royal family, 【Guseong】, showing interest in him was never appropriate.
‘It’s just a phase, right?’
