A New Breeze Blows through 【Jungle】, Passing by Lee Hyun-woo’s Mind.
Time passed, and November arrived. The interior construction of the completely erected building was proceeding smoothly.
Lee Hyun-woo visited the site once a day. Whenever he did, he couldn’t help but show a proud expression. It felt as if his dreams and future were ripening.
Today, while standing in front of the building after work to savor that feeling, Lee Jung-woo, who happened to be passing by, spotted him.
“You’re here again today.”
“Are you off to work now?”
“Yeah.”
“You’re working hard. Studying and working.”
“I desperately want to do just one of them.”
“You know you can’t drop out of school, right? If you do, our parents will blame me severely.”
“Then what about taking a leave of absence?”
“What?”
“How about taking a leave of absence next year? When Yoo Chul returns to school, we can pass the baton.”
“Forget it. We’re going to recruit a large number of new employees this time. A huge number of developers are applying.”
In reality, the day after the portal announcement about hiring new employees went up, there was news of an overwhelming amount of emails piling up. Now, it wasn’t Lee Hyun-woo who checked those emails one by one; it was the team leaders. Lee Hyun-woo had instructed them to recruit talent themselves this time.
“It’s a big deal because of that. This time, it’s not you but us who have to select the candidates.”
“Well, whether you grill them or boil them, you guys interview and pick the right person for each team.”
“Ugh, that’s irresponsible.”
“Irresponsible? It’s a far better environment than when I used to recruit.”
That’s also true. As 【Jungle】 became known to the world, significantly more young developers applied than before.
“Instead, we have to desperately pick someone more outstanding than other teams. That’s stressful.”
“Too much stress isn’t good, but don’t think you can avoid it altogether. That’s just being lazy.”
“I know, but…”
At his hyung’s remark, Lee Jung-woo’s gaze moved to the building in front of them. Once they move into the visible building, a fierce development competition will unfold. Lee Jung-woo, seemingly bothered by this, frowned and then spoke again.
“Well, I don’t know. At least I’m not the most disadvantaged.”
“Then, who is?”
“It’s obviously Min-woo, right? He has the shortest experience working at our company and probably doesn’t know the interview process.”
That’s true. Lee Hyun-woo had deliberately shown the process every time they recruited people. The other three team leaders had absorbed it and would apply it this time to sift out the gems. However, Oh Min-woo hadn’t.
‘But he could overwhelm others with his unique ideas.’
That’s a positive prediction, but if he doesn’t compose his team well, it could be bad in its own way. Because knowing there’s always someone better out there keeps you from getting complacent. Currently, Oh Min-woo was brimming with confidence, thinking he could do anything.
At that moment.
“Huh? Speak of the devil, here comes Min-woo.”
Oh Min-woo appeared in the distance, approaching them with a bright expression. This guy would often spout ideas without considering others’ perspectives.
“Hyung, I just had an amazing idea?”
“What is it?”
“Data storage technology. I think we could save on server costs needed for the increasing data just with this. What do you think?”
For a moment, Lee Hyun-woo’s eyes flickered violently. The early concept of big data had come out of Oh Min-woo’s mouth. Although Lee Hyun-woo wasn’t an IT expert, he wasn’t a complete novice either. He had attended several workshops in Silicon Valley and made connections with friends there. Thus, he knew a bit about data storage technology, at least superficially.
But the person more astonished than Lee Hyun-woo was Lee Jung-woo.
“Data storage technology? That’s what you’re going with for your idea?”
“Yeah, that’s the plan.”
“Damn it. I was researching that area too.”
Listening to their conversation, Lee Hyun-woo quickly intervened.
“There’s no rule saying you can’t work on the same thing.”
“Do you mean we should conduct joint research?”
“No, research the same technology separately.”
“That’s too inefficient.”
“I don’t think so. We can choose the better one between the two. The competition will make you work harder.”
With Lee Hyun-woo’s words, the expressions of the two hardened. They felt the intensity of the competition even more. Watching them, Lee Hyun-woo quietly smiled.
‘They’ll work harder.’
At this stage, conducting separate research on the same topic is a very good direction. Later, the two teams would become familiar with it and could always share and exchange information and technology. If data storage technology advances significantly, processing and backup technology will also inevitably follow. Knowing this concept roughly, Lee Hyun-woo began to think of a business model to utilize this technology.
‘Cloud!’
The perpetually loss-making 【Amazoness】 initially survived on this technology. If done well, they might be able to have every company in Korea adapting to the information society as a customer. One of those potential customers contacted him while he was organizing his thoughts at home.
“Hello?”
(Hello?)
It was Kim Ah-young. Lee Hyun-woo responded cheerfully upon hearing her voice.
“Hey, Ah-young.”
(Where are you?)
“At home.”
(Aren’t you going to nightclubs these days?)
“The guy I usually go with is pretty busy. And I’ve got some things to think about, so I came home.”
Lee Hyun-woo had gone to nightclubs with Oh Min-woo a few times. He had openly told Kim Ah-young about it when she called, and she had said they should definitely go together next time. Since then, they had been in frequent contact, but coincidentally, Oh Min-woo had been too preoccupied with work to go to a nightclub.
“Why? Do you want to go?”
(No, you said you had something to think about?)
“Yes.”
(Then I shouldn’t interrupt those thoughts.)
“Interrupt… You could help.”
(Huh?)
“It’s expensive to talk on the phone. If you have time, want to come over here?”
(Over there? You mean your house?)
“No, come to the office. If you don’t know our company, I’ll give you the address.”
Typically, Lee Hyun-woo didn’t go to the office unless it was special. He had made it a habit to set an example, but today, with a sudden flash of inspiration, he decided to deal with Kim Ah-young, a potential customer. Eventually, to sell the cloud, he needed to market it to people running businesses.
‘And it wouldn’t be bad to inform those two about the commercial use of the cloud.’
Excitement filled Lee Hyun-woo’s steps as he went outside. Discovering himself eagerly heading to work again, he realized how difficult work-life balance was.
‘Just for today, just today.’
Making this promise to himself, Lee Hyun-woo started the car.
Today, the traffic was quite heavy. It was only natural since it was rush hour. Fortunately, the traffic started to ease up later. Lee Hyun-woo finally arrived, quickly parked, and got out of the car when someone called out to him.
“Hyun-woo?”
“Huh?”
He turned to see Kim Ah-young already there, waiting for him. Judging by her office attire, she hadn’t gone home yet.
‘She’s getting prettier.’
Thinking this to himself, he quickly asked her.
“Have you been waiting long?”
“No, not really. About 10 minutes?”
“Wow, you did wait a bit. Sorry for being late. It’s rush hour.”
“It’s okay. We didn’t set a specific time, did we? By the way, you said I could help you? What do you mean?”
“Come up and listen to what I have to say.”
Lee Hyun-woo smiled at Kim Ah-young’s curious eyes. He then led her into the company for the first time and took her to a research lab with a whiteboard. Even though it was nighttime, the lights were on in two research labs, a definite characteristic of an IT company. Thinking this, he passed the first lab and reached the second one. As he opened the door, he saw Lee Jung-woo and Oh Min-woo glued to their computers. They were so focused that they didn’t notice Lee Hyun-woo and Kim Ah-young entering, or maybe they just didn’t have the time to care. Lee Hyun-woo smiled and called out to them.
“I’m here.”
“Huh? CEO?”
“What brings you here?”
“Oh, I just have something to explain to Ah-young.”
Here, Lee Hyun-woo employed his characteristic rapid-fire speaking style and got straight to the point.
“And it’s related to the data storage technology you guys mentioned earlier.”
For a moment, Lee Hyun-woo’s words put question marks in the eyes of the three people. Ignoring this, Lee Hyun-woo started writing something on the whiteboard. Soon, the words ‘Seorabeol Hotel’ appeared before their eyes.
“Ah-young, there are computers at 【Seorabeol Hotel】, right? To handle staff, operations, and guests?”
“Of course.”
“And it’s probably not just one. There would be several, and there must be servers to prevent data loss.”
“Yes, that’s what I know.”
“Also, a lot of data will continue to be generated, and every time that happens, it needs to be stored. Moreover, nowadays, not only text data but also graphic data are increasing, requiring more storage capacity. This means expanding servers, again and again. That costs a lot, right?”
“There’s no avoiding that.”
“But what if you could save on server costs? What if someone else stored that data for you and made it available anytime? Of course, for a small fee. For example, if a server computer costs ten million won, but you only pay one hundred thousand won a month for the same function.”
“So, you guys are doing that business?”
“It’s a plan that came to mind just now after hearing these guys talk.”
“If it were me, I would definitely do it. Moreover, 【Seorabeol Hotel】 isn’t only in Seoul.”
“Exactly. And, as I mentioned, graphic data is increasing. For instance, to inform Jeju Island about a VIP room in Seoul, a photo is much easier to understand than words. With faster internet, data transfers will become frequent. Do you delete it right after receiving it? No, you have to store it somewhere.”
Lee Hyun-woo tried to explain the concept of the cloud as easily as possible. Fortunately, Kim Ah-young seemed to understand most of it, nodding her head. So he asked the final question.
“What do you think? Is this business worth doing?”
Kim Ah-young smiled beautifully and answered.
“Of course.”
