Recalling the bleak process of 1997 only made me feel depressed.
In the end, Lee Hyun-woo thought that a new plan had to be devised.
‘We need to prove our worth to cover the bubble with another bubble.’
To prevent foreign currency from flowing out, they had to start by proving the value of Jungle.
Thus, Lee Hyun-woo began his endeavors in 1997 by welcoming guests from the United States.
They were developers from [AltaVist].
“I’m James Rice, the CTO.”
“I’m Alex Bath, the Senior Technical Manager.”
Judging by the fact that they sent technical personnel, it seemed like they intended to verify Jungle and Korea’s IT technology.
Lee Hyun-woo saw this as a meaningful turning point.
It was akin to Silicon Valley checking out Korea’s information and communication environment.
“Welcome.”
After greeting them warmly, he called his younger brother Lee Jung-woo to the CEO’s office.
After all, the team leaders knew much more about technology than he did.
“In fact, we were quite curious, so we arrived a couple of days ago and experienced Korea.”
“We don’t know much else, but we noticed that Korea has a place called an internet cafe.”
It seemed they had experienced a PC bang, which had become prevalent with the installation of high-speed internet.
Lee Hyun-woo smiled and nodded.
“It’s a form of new business, and it seems like it will be a new market for IT business as well.”
“We thought the same. We were surprised by the music coming from the computer as soon as we entered. Upon closer inspection, it was streaming from Jungle Music.”
The locals must have been surprised to see foreigners examining everything so closely.
Imagining that scene, Lee Hyun-woo held on to the topic they brought up and explained.
“Originally, only the download method was used, but recently, we applied streaming to computers. We renegotiated with the record companies.”
It’s true.
The record companies, who had been holding out, welcomed the new market with open arms instead of seeing it as a loss.
Naturally, the demands made by Jungle Music were accepted without much issue.
“I hope such a market opens up soon in the United States as well.”
“I feel the same. But I don’t think it’s far off.”
This statement was a New Year’s greeting.
The United States still had a long way to go to build high-speed internet infrastructure.
‘We need to expedite this so that Jungle can enter the global market.’
For now, it was just a storm in a teacup because other countries’ internet speeds couldn’t keep up.
So, he hoped that many people, like these two who visited Korea, would go back to their countries and become catalysts for changing their internet environment.
For now, the two asked many questions, including technical ones.
In other words, it was finally an opportunity for Lee Jung-woo to shine.
Unfortunately, he couldn’t communicate directly and had to rely on his brother’s help.
“We don’t know much else, but we’re curious about how you can search so quickly.”
“It’s because we focused on collecting web pages rather than just keywords.”
“They don’t exactly understand what you mean.”
“It means we search based on the similarity of web pages, not just words. In other words, we’re finding relationships.”
This seemed somewhat aligned with what Min-woo Oh had mentioned recently.
Lee Hyun-woo continued interpreting with this thought in mind.
“They’re saying it takes quite a bit of time because you need to accumulate and search through data.”
“That’s why we’ve put a lot of effort into data storage technology. We store, compress, and then greatly shorten the time it takes to find the desired information.”
While conveying his brother’s words, Lee Hyun-woo noticed that the eyes of the people from AltaVist were filled with shock.
Eventually.
“They’re asking if you can simulate it in English as well.”
He conveyed this surprising question to his brother, who, to his amazement, nodded.
“Of course. We can show it right away.”
“We can show it right away.”
“Really?”
“Really?”
“Yes, that’s right. Shall we go check it out?”
Until now, they had only seen Korean, so they must have only felt the search speed roughly.
Also, since the internet speed in the U.S. was so slow, they must have confirmed that it was much faster than their own search engine when they came to Korea.
‘Search engines must be really important.’
Thinking this to himself, they moved and showed them the English version prototype of Jungle that his brother had created, which left them utterly astonished.
“Was this really something to be so surprised about?”
“Of course. The speed of search will inevitably make a difference in the quantity and quality of information in the future. Knowing that, it’s no wonder they’re so surprised.”
“Oh, I wish I had known more about this.”
“It’s our fault. Even though we reported everything, we should have emphasized the importance of the search engine more.”
“By the way, is this the search engine from the beginning, or is it completely overhauled?”
“I designed the initial version and integrated it into Jungle. To be precise, I had this idea since my first year in college. Of course, it was upgraded several times after Team Leader Woo and Min-woo joined and improved its weaknesses.”
“Ah…”
Lee Hyun-woo realized that there was a treasure right under his nose.
It was worth living twice.
If it hadn’t been for this, both his brother’s abilities and the current search engine might have been buried.
His thoughts were interrupted there.
Suddenly, the two people stood up and asked Lee Hyun-woo with impatient expressions.
“When will you finalize the business cooperation date?”
“We’d like to expedite it a bit more.”
At this point, it was clear that sending only the technical team from Al Ta Beast was a mistake.
Knowing that what he held was a treasure the other party coveted, what Lee Hyun-woo could do was.
“Sorry, but we plan to proceed with entering the U.S. following the proper procedures, so please wait just a bit longer.”
He was incorporating technology that would raise the value.
At the same time,
“However, you can contact your CEO anytime, so please reach out when you return.”
He left room for flexibility.
Now, all that was left was to confirm how valuable the search engine they had in hand was.
The next day, James Rice, the CTO of AltaVist, was so urgent that he called the CEO, Tim Connor, as soon as he arrived.
Tim Connor, who came to the office, tilted his head and asked James.
“It’s the weekend, why aren’t you resting?”
“It’s urgent.”
“Urgent?”
“I have a request regarding business cooperation with Jungle. Please make sure to include the sharing of their search engine.”
“……?”
James Rice, the CTO, was known to be an impulsive person.
Today, he was so extreme that he committed the atrocity of omitting everything.
“I knew their search engine was good. But is it to the point where we have to abandon ours?”
“Embarrassingly, the initial designs are so different that transferring the search technology is impossible.”
“……”
That meant they had to use Jungle’s search engine entirely.
“This is really… no small matter.”
“Yes, but it’s a must. As you know, we’ve been losing ground to Yaho recently.”
James Rice, the CTO of AltaVist, was being modest with his words.
It wasn’t just losing ground; they were basically sitting back and watching Yaho take everything.
How would James Rice, who co-founded the company with Tim Connor, feel?
Losing the search engine market to a latecomer, withering away day by day, feeling like an old man pushed to the sidelines by market forces.
“So, do you think Jungle’s search engine is much better than Yaho’s?”
“Of course. It’s not even a comparison. Yaho’s search engine has improved on the same type as ours, while Jungle has a tool that searches based on the similarity and relationships between pages. Would you understand better if I compared it to a shovel and a teaspoon?”
“No, I think I get the gist. And I understand your point. The problem is, we have quite a few places using our search engine.”
“Sooner or later, Yaho will take them away. We should push our other strengths instead.”
“What other strengths?”
“Databases. We sell that.”
This was the conclusion he reached with Alex Bath, the Senior Technical Manager, on the flight.
“The one area where we have an advantage over Yahoo is our databases, isn’t it? We have over ten million web documents.”
“Yes, more than ten times what Yahoo has. We’re holding on with that alone.”
“Didn’t you say Jungle also wanted our databases?”
“Yes.”
This was a connection he found through emails with Lee Hyun-woo.
He thought they needed it to supplement their search engine, but it turned out they needed to overhaul everything.
“Huh… We have no choice but to help Jungle enter the U.S. market unconditionally.”
Why did it feel like they were bringing in a tiger to catch a wolf?
The day Lee Hyun-woo received a call from Tim Connor was on a Monday, right after the weekend.
The other party, seemingly eager, actively courted him.
After saying that he would soon send his brother Lee Jung-woo and Min-woo Oh for practical work, Lee Hyun-woo hung up the phone.
“It’s like we have wings for entering the U.S. market.”
Even if business cooperation was set aside, the help of AltaVist was essential for entering the U.S. market.
He could tell just by looking at Kang Dong-ho, who was struggling with no foundation in Taiwan and Hong Kong.
Lee Hyun-woo immediately called Lee Jung-woo and Min-woo Oh to explain the situation.
“Wow, that’s great. AltaVist using our search engine.”
“Probably their technical team will visit us often, and we’ll also send people there to strengthen exchanges. I think you two should handle this business agreement.”
“If you send us, we’ll sign the contract right away.”
“But what about you, CEO?”
“It’s not time for me to go yet.”
Right now, it felt like an interim contract.
The real contract would be signed after the value of Jungle matured further and they could call in the press.
“But CEO, we can’t go in right away. No matter how urgent, we need to improve the completion of the search engine a bit more.”
“How long do you think it will take?”
“Well, about two weeks?”
“Okay, then I’ll book the flight tickets for two weeks later. Oh, Team Leader Oh has something he’s working on, what should we do?”
“It’s not urgent, so we can delay it a bit more.”
Hearing Min-woo Oh’s response, Lee Hyun-woo’s eyes sparkled.
‘Delaying what he wants to do for the success of the organization?’
He didn’t think the Min-woo Oh in his previous life had this trait.
In this life, not only the scenario but also the characters might not be the same?
Suddenly, Lee Hyun-woo’s gaze passed Min-woo Oh and landed on Lee Jung-woo.
‘My younger brother, a treasure under my nose.’
He sincerely hoped that his brother’s life would bloom brilliantly.
