Flinch.
Although Lee Hyun-woo was tipsy from the alcohol, he couldn’t help but be surprised.
‘Did he figure it out?’
He thought he had hidden the fact that he was Nostradamus well, so how did he find out?
As Lee Hyun-woo thought about this, he felt relieved after hearing his brother’s next words.
“Hyung keeps coming up with new ideas as if you know the future. So, to us, you’re like Nostradamus.”
“……”
Lee Hyun-woo sighed with relief internally and finally spoke in a relaxed tone.
“That’s not true. I didn’t come up with the ideas first. If you look closely, I only made decisions based on the ideas you guys proposed. This time, too, the data storage technology and MP3 files were all your thoughts.”
“That’s true, but it feels like hyung guided everything.”
“Absolutely not. So don’t joke around saying I’m Nostradamus. What if someone hears and misunderstands? They might think I’m the owner of that blog.”
“Oh, right? I saw comments saying they might be a National Intelligence Service (NIS) agent.”
“I was shocked when I saw stories about the CIA and North Korean spies.”
That’s why he was being cautious.
He didn’t want to be under real surveillance by the NIS later on.
‘But I haven’t really committed any special crimes.’
Thinking about it quietly, was there really a need to hide that he was Nostradamus?
‘No, there is. I have to hide it. Otherwise, it will be really annoying.’
Thinking about the stares he got after being ranked as one of the most desirable men to marry, it was indeed very bothersome.
The public tends to forget, so it has gotten much better now.
‘It was quite annoying. To the point where the stares around me were noticeable.’
So, he decided to hide the fact that he was Nostradamus as much as possible.
Resolving this, Lee Hyun-woo arrived home.
Just in case, he turned on the computer and reset the PC’s password.
‘A password that no one knows.’
Only then did he feel relieved and lay down on the bed, closing his eyes.
Did he overdo it today?
Fatigue overwhelmed him, and he fell asleep.
The next day arrived.
As always, nights are short and mornings come quickly for office workers.
It was the same for 【Alpha Cast】, a company supplying car CD players to large corporations.
Especially for CEO Jung Sung-woo, who had to go to work with bloodshot eyes after drinking a lot the previous night.
But as soon as he arrived, he looked for someone while overcoming his hangover.
“Jung Ji-hoon.”
“Yes?”
“Would you like to grab a coffee?”
“Sure.”
Jung Ji-hoon’s eyes were also red as he answered.
It seemed he couldn’t sleep well, just like him.
‘Is it because of what we heard yesterday?’
The story he heard in the basement of 【Jungle】 last night was still ringing in Jung Sung-woo’s ears.
‘What exactly is this new player?’
Thanks to Lee Hyun-woo, Jung Ji-hoon had earned his trust, so he might be able to find out.
So, dragging his heavy body, he followed him outside, constantly moving his lips.
‘Try calling Lee Hyun-woo.’
However, he couldn’t bring himself to say it.
He felt like things would get complicated if he mentioned it.
‘We have a lot of loans, so let’s not get involved in something else.’
Thinking this, he soon stopped walking.
After all, the coffee machine was just in the hallway of the building, so there was no need to go far.
“Oh, I’ll give you the coins.”
“Yes, CEO.”
From Jung Ji-hoon’s perspective, seeing CEO Jung Sung-woo following him meant he had something important to discuss over coffee.
Jung Ji-hoon roughly knew what he wanted to talk about.
So, while inserting the coins and getting the coffee, he brought up what he heard the previous night.
“Is it about what we heard yesterday?”
“Yes, honestly, it is. I couldn’t sleep because of it. I barely managed to gather my thoughts in the morning, but my head hurt so much. If it weren’t for what CEO Lee said, I wouldn’t have gotten up.”
“Me too.”
As he handed the coffee to Jung Sung-woo and took his own, Jung Ji-hoon continued.
“Remember I told you about 【One Computer】 before?”
“Yeah, CEO Lee also mentioned it. He said they grew rapidly thanks to 【Jungle】, right?”
“Yes. The CEO there was just a shop owner in Yongsan Electronics Market but became the biggest beneficiary of online auctions and shopping. From what I found out, he was one of the worst sellers in Yongsan.”
As expected, Jung Ji-hoon knew the details.
Curiosity sparked in Jung Sung-woo, thinking he might find a breakthrough.
“Why did CEO Lee support that person?”
“At that time, successful shop owners wouldn’t have sold computers at a loss. Knowing that, he probably approached someone who wasn’t doing well.”
“That makes sense. So, could the reason CEO Lee is giving us a chance be similar?”
“Maybe. As you saw yesterday, even the successor of 【Guseong】 came and talked to us about new products.”
“Right. But telling us to make something other than CD players… I have no idea what that could be.”
“If he suggests it, would you consider it?”
“Money is the problem.”
“He said he would invest.”
“Really? Oh, that time?”
Jung Sung-woo recalled the time Lee Hyun-woo mentioned investment.
“Wasn’t he just saying that?”
“What if he wasn’t?”
“Of course, I’d want to. That’s why you brought up 【One Computer】, right?”
“Yes, honestly… I felt envious listening to it. They say a person gets three chances in life. I don’t know which chance it was for 【One Computer】’s CEO, but this might be our last chance.”
“Right… it could be the last chance.”
The reason it felt like the last chance was because two previous attempts had failed.
As always, debt accumulates with repeated failures.
Mentioning that would be upsetting, so Jung Ji-hoon quickly suggested to the CEO to seize the opportunity in front of them.
“Since Hyun-woo mentioned the possibility of investment before and talked about making something other than a CD player yesterday, he must have something in mind. He told us to come anytime, so how about we hurry?”
“I feel the same way… but can we really do that?”
“Let’s shamelessly contact him and visit today.”
“He might find it burdensome if we go just a day after.”
“From what I noticed, he seemed like he wanted us to hurry.”
“If that’s the case, we should hurry.”
It’s hard to read others’ minds.
So, intuition is needed, and despite his bulky frame, Jung Ji-hoon is genuinely perceptive.
Trusting him, Jung Sung-woo decided quickly, and they visited 【Jungle】 again that afternoon, just like the previous day.
Unlike yesterday, they were stopped by security at the lobby of 【Jungle】, opening their eyes wide to the strict security.
If the CEO of such a secure place wanted to share something with them, it must be something significant.
Curiosity increased as they met Lee Hyun-woo and immediately brought up their purpose.
“Because of what you said yesterday, we couldn’t sleep.”
“Me neither.”
Though he could speak informally as a senior, Jung Ji-hoon thought it would be better to differentiate between business and personal matters and spoke formally.
In other words, he was letting Lee Hyun-woo know that they came solely for business today.
Lee Hyun-woo understood that.
‘They seem determined.’
At times like this, there’s no need for warm-up.
“Then let me show you while explaining.”
He stood up and headed to the 2nd Development Room on the 4th floor.
For reference, the new building’s floors from the 2nd to the 5th were used entirely by the team leaders, who were now department heads.
They were provided with spacious areas and designed very free-spirited interiors for creativity.
In some cases, Lee Hyun-woo personally intervened and requested various things from the contractors.
So, every time he saw the results, his heart was filled with satisfaction.
‘We borrowed 【Single】’s workspace, and it turned out great.’
Meanwhile, the development rooms were named in reverse order starting from the 5th floor as 1, 2, 3, and 4 Development Rooms.
Each was led by Woo Sang-won, Jang Yu-chul, Lee Jung-woo, and Oh Min-woo.
Now, they were heading to the 4th floor, led by Jang Yu-chul, where the walls were decorated using LPs and CDs.
Naturally, the two who entered with Lee Hyun-woo were amazed.
“Wow, what kind of development room is this….”
“It feels like I could compose music here.”
At that moment, Jang Yu-chul, whom they had spoken to the previous day, approached.
“Oh, you two are here.”
“Hello?”
“Hello?”
As they exchanged greetings, Lee Hyun-woo laughed.
Then he said,
“Director Jang, do you remember what we talked about with these gentlemen yesterday?”
“Oh, that? Should I… show them now?”
“Yes, it’s almost complete, right?”
“It’s almost done. It should be finished within this month. Oh, and the current version has almost no loss in sound quality.”
While explaining, Jang Yu-chul led them into his office.
Then he sat in front of the computer and opened a folder.
Simultaneously, everyone noticed the folder name was MP3, and the files inside had the extension ‘.MP3’.
One of them was the song “Urban Pierrot” that Lee Hyun-woo sang yesterday.
Without hesitation, he double-clicked, and the prelude of the original song filled the space, similar to the previous day.
“……”
“……”
The expressions of the two who worked in the related industry changed.
Even though it was played on a computer, the sound quality was almost indistinguishable from a CD player.
Lee Hyun-woo was also surprised by the better-than-expected sound quality.
‘Though I don’t know much, it feels better than the MP3 from my past life.’
Moreover, this was not the final version.
This was why Lee Hyun-woo’s expectations were rising.
Each lost in their thoughts, the four of them remained quiet until the original singer’s sweet voice finished.
As soon as it ended, Jang Yu-chul spoke up.
“How was it?”
Seeing his confidence, it seemed like there was only one possible answer.
Indeed, Lee Hyun-woo praised first,
“It was better than expected. Much better than last time. There’s no crackling sound. Oh, how about you two?”
“It was good.”
“It was alright.”
“But have you thought about the device to play this?”
Finally, the question came.
Jung Sung-woo asked, still with a puzzled expression, looking at Lee Hyun-woo and Jang Yu-chul.
Other than the advantage of listening to MP3 files without a CD and on a computer, what else could there be?
The desired answer came from Jang Yu-chul’s mouth.
“I forgot to mention compression. This song’s size is 4MB. To make it simple, I’ll round off the decimal point. You know how much space a CD holds, right?”
“……!”
“You can fit over 100 songs!”
Jung Sung-woo was too surprised to respond, so Jung Ji-hoon roughly guessed,
“Over 150 songs.”
“……!”
When Jang Yu-chul corrected him, he, too, couldn’t help but be astonished.
