As soon as Lee Hyun-woo expressed that more people were needed for work, his younger brother, Lee Jung-woo, asked a curious question.
“If it’s from 9 AM to 6 PM? What about me? It sounds like you don’t want me to work during that time.”
“That’s right. Your working hours would be from 6 PM. Let’s make it from 7 PM to midnight, excluding dinner time.”
Workers, now and always, are sensitive about working hours.
Why? Because it’s related to income.
“What? It’s only five hours, so the money I get will be less.”
“I’ll set the pay after 7 PM at 1,800 won.”
“Hold on. 1,800 won? That’s 9,000 won.”
“You’re quick at calculating. I didn’t know you had such talent in math.”
“I’m not good at math, but I’m quick with money. Anyway, if that’s the case, then the story changes. Okay, I’ll do it.”
Lee Hyun-woo smiled at his brother’s acceptance and asked the next question.
“By the way, won’t we need to monitor the site after midnight? It’s okay now, but if the number of users explodes, we might need to be on standby 24/7.”
“No, there’s a way. Set it up at night and check it in the morning. Of course, it also depends on the number of users, but it won’t exceed a million right away.”
Lee Hyun-woo felt reassured by his younger brother, who knew more about computers than he did.
‘But what if it exceeds a million?’
Lee Hyun-woo was already thinking that far ahead.
His ambition was never small.
‘When that time comes, we’ll have to change the current small-scale operation.’
Imagining a future that hasn’t arrived yet is called an empty fantasy.
Lee Hyun-woo decided to end such empty fantasies here and focus on assembling the server and hiring new part-time workers.
Was it because he didn’t want to work during the day?
Or did he want to quickly expand the business?
The next day, Lee Jung-woo brought his club friends to assemble the server.
“Welcome, everyone.”
“Please, speak comfortably.”
“Shall I?”
“Our friend’s older brother is our older brother too. Hahaha.”
“Okay, then I’ll treat you comfortably.”
Perhaps because they were birds of a feather, the friends had personalities as sociable as his younger brother.
Their skills seemed to be similar, and seeing them assemble the server in sync, it looked like the work would go smoothly.
During a short break, Lee Jung-woo pointed someone out to Lee Hyun-woo and said quietly.
“You see that guy?”
“Yeah?”
“His name is Jang Yoo-chul, the skinny guy over there.”
“Yeah.”
The friend his younger brother pointed to was a skinny guy who looked like he spent all his time on the computer without exercising.
His face was not just gentle but almost delicate.
“He’s very interested in our work.”
“Part-time job?”
“Yeah, and he’s on a leave of absence from school. The best part is he’s going back to school next year.”
“Next year? Didn’t he go to the military?”
“He did, but it seems he had some circumstances.”
“It’s a money issue, right?”
“Yeah, he said he needs to earn some money.”
Lee Hyun-woo nodded and silently observed Jang Yoo-chul, who was inspecting server components.
Even while assembling the PC server, Jang Yoo-chul was answering various questions from the other friends, and to Lee Hyun-woo, he seemed to have considerable skill.
“He’s good with computers, right?”
“I guarantee his skills. He’s not as good as me, but he’s the best among those sitting there.”
“Great, let’s interview him right after we finish assembling the server.”
“What? Do we need to interview him?”
“We need to maintain appearances. Surely you don’t want to run our company like a hole-in-the-wall shop?”
Having worked in a large corporation, Lee Hyun-woo wanted to be thorough in these aspects.
Reluctantly, Lee Jung-woo grumbled.
“Alright. I spoke as if everything would be fine if I said so, but….”
Lee Hyun-woo chuckled.
He had no intention of undermining his brother’s authority.
However, he wanted to establish some formality from the start, so he intended to adhere to the principle of interviewing before hiring.
With this in mind, Lee Hyun-woo headed to Yongsan again.
But was it necessary to visit the Yongsan electronics market again after buying all the computer and server components?
Of course. Since the competitors in the online market were offline, it was necessary to constantly check the changing specifications and prices of computers.
Therefore, as he frequently visited the Yongsan electronics market, the shop owners and clerks began to recognize Lee Hyun-woo’s face.
Every time he passed by, he could hear their voices.
“What on earth does that guy do?”
“Judging by the parts he buys, he seems to be making and selling assembled PCs?”
“He didn’t buy much either. And recently, he bought server components.”
“Oh, right. I heard that too. So, he must be a college student.”
“Is that so? Well, since he’s a college student and has no money, he keeps haggling the prices down.”
“Seems like it. But he haggled too much. He almost pushed for us not to make any profit.”
“That’s why we didn’t sell to him.”
“We didn’t sell, but he usually buys from one place.”
“Wasn’t it almost all from 【Won PC】?”
“Yeah, the owner there got taken for a ride.”
Hearing the mention of 【Won PC】, Lee Hyun-woo felt a slight twinge of guilt.
‘The owner had no knack for business.’
To survive here, attracting customers was essential.
And for the naive ones who got caught, you had to use sweet talk and a bit of trickery to sell things at a slightly higher price to make a profit.
But the owner of 【Won PC】, Kim Yoon-soo, was far from such business practices.
In a good way, he was a scholar or gentleman.
A few words, and you could figure out the component prices.
So, he often ended up selling parts to Lee Hyun-woo at incredibly low prices.
‘I feel bad, so I’ll take care of him somehow later.’
Lee Hyun-woo, still unable to face the owner of 【Won PC】, felt guilty.
Since he lacked money, he had haggled the prices down, and the owner probably didn’t make much profit, so he avoided the area.
Eventually, after gathering price and trend information from other places, he returned home.
“Hyung, you’re back!”
His brother and his skinny friend, Jang Yoo-chul, welcomed him.
Seeing the living room workspace neatly organized, it seemed the server was completed.
“Is it all done?”
“Yeah. Let me show you.”
Lee Jung-woo, pulling his brother into his room, seemed very proud.
Lee Hyun-woo followed him with a smile.
“Ta-da! You’d need to pay over 500,000 won to buy this on the market!”
Proudly showing off the server to his brother.
‘How would I know just by looking at the exterior?’
Not knowing, he simply expressed amazement.
“Wow, that’s amazing. You and your friends too. Yoo-chul seems to have worked the hardest. He looked like the most skilled one.”
“Oh, no.”
Lee Hyun-woo liked Jang Yoo-chul’s humble attitude, waving his hands modestly.
At that moment, his younger brother chimed in.
“He’s not as good as me, but this guy is really good.”
“I wondered why you weren’t involved. By the way, did you pay your friends for their part-time work?”
“Of course. Do you think I’d cheat them? Yoo-chul is my witness. Right, Yoo-chul?”
“Uh? Oh, yeah. Oh, right. Thank you.”
“No, I should be thanking you. I’m sorry the pay was so little.”
“No, I was really surprised by how much you paid.”
For assembling the server, Lee Hyun-woo slightly exploited his brother’s friends’ labor.
It was awkward to calculate by the hour, so he had told his brother to split 100,000 won among the five friends and then left.
Lee Jung-woo had grumbled that it was too much, but Lee Hyun-woo, still used to past financial standards, felt full of guilt.
“Alright, let’s have the interview then?”
“Yes? Oh, yes.”
To Lee Hyun-woo, Jang Yoo-chul seemed like a person who gets very nervous.
There was no need for that.
It was just for appearances, and as long as he was diligent, that was enough.
Focusing on that, the interview ended quickly.
“Start work from tomorrow.”
“Thank you!”
“Wow, as expected, my brother is so decisive!”
Lee Jung-woo’s unnecessary exclamations made both of them laugh.
After Jang Yoo-chul went home, Lee Jung-woo provided more details about him.
“Yoo-chul is a bit different from me. You could say he’s more sensitive. He likes music and reads a lot of books, which isn’t common for an engineer.”
“That’s good. You’re too simple-minded, so he might help balance things out.”
Lee Jung-woo nodded, seemingly agreeing with his brother’s comment about his simplicity.
Meanwhile, Lee Hyun-woo had a sudden, peculiar thought.
‘In the IT giant sector, there’s 【Single】 for technology and 【Face Note】 for emotion.’
If his brother fortified the company’s technology and Jang Yoo-chul connected people with ‘super-connectivity’?
‘Am I thinking too far?’
For a moment, Lee Hyun-woo thought about merging 【Single】 and 【Face Note】.
His dreams were big, but he knew that he couldn’t push forward recklessly.
Doing so could lead to side effects.
Moreover, there was no guarantee that those two would stay in 【Jungle】 forever.
‘Let’s focus on the online auction for now.’
The next day, Jang Yoo-chul started working.
Surprisingly, Lee Jung-woo wasn’t slacking off during his work hours.
They were always together, so the shift system didn’t seem to be working properly.
Despite repeatedly telling his brother that the extra time wouldn’t be paid, he couldn’t force him to leave, making the boundaries unclear.
Eventually, his brother said this:
“Hyung, I’ve been thinking, maybe I won’t get a job later and just do this together.”
“What?”
“Today, three items that will generate fees have already been listed. Also, some items listed for less than 10,000 won were sold during the auction process.”
“How much is that worth…”
“It’s not much, but the number of users is increasing exponentially, contrary to my initial expectations.”
He was right.
Initially, there were only users trying to buy computers, but the scope had expanded to include peripheral devices.
There were even books, but since the delivery system was very underdeveloped, the sellers and buyers had to meet in person to exchange them.
Relatively expensive items were still being sent via post office parcels.
For reference, if the transaction amount exceeded 10,000 won, the 【Jungle】 account would receive a 2.5% fee.
Though it was very inconvenient since credit cards were not yet common, only Lee Hyun-woo felt that way.
“If you have such thoughts, I won’t stop you, but think about it after you finish your studies.”
“Well… Hey, hyung, what will you do when I go back to school?”
“Then we’ll have to hire another part-timer.”
“Geez, what did our mom do to deserve this?”
“True. I’m such a bad son.”
As the office was in his brother’s room, the more people there were, the more work it created for their mom.
Cleaning and cooking were her responsibilities.
Though they helped, the two of them still had a lot of work to do.
This was an inconvenience Lee Hyun-woo had to endure until he could move out, which he saw as a time to persevere.
He had to take the plunge to bring that day closer, and finally, that time was approaching.
After successfully auctioning off the third assembled PC, Lee Hyun-woo visited the Yongsan electronics market again.
He then went to the store that had been terrible at business, 【Won PC】, and said this:
“Do you want to sell a lot of computers?”
The owner of 【Won PC】 looked at Lee Hyun-woo with bewildered eyes.
The look in his eyes said, ‘Why are you asking something so obvious?’
Since Lee Hyun-woo had caused him losses, he was now planning to help with that obvious thing.
Also, as it was time for 【Jungle】 to start attracting businesses rather than individuals, he decided to tell the owner how they could both win.
