The person receiving the report, though not in detail but enough to make guesses, was Kim Tae-hyun.
He constantly had to prove himself to his father.
As a result, he had no choice but to follow the path of money and success, and the recent money well he discovered was pooling around Jungle.
“I understand that the two people from the U.S. are developers from Alta Vist. There will be an article soon in Sejong Daily.”
“What’s it about?”
“It’s a search engine.”
“Is Jungle really going to use Alta Vist’s search engine?”
“It’s the other way around.”
Kim Tae-hyun’s eyes wavered.
He was a registered director of Guseong System.
There was no way he lacked IT knowledge.
Therefore, he couldn’t help but make a face as if he was hearing about a type of search engine that surpasses American ones for the first time.
“However, it’s not yet confirmed that Jungle will fully use the search engine. Specifically, it seems that Jungle requested it that way, but whether it’s to avoid exaggeration or for confidentiality, we need to find out more.”
“Got it. What’s next?”
“The manufacturing of the MP3 player is progressing smoothly. It seems it will be out by the end of this month at the earliest, or early next month at the latest.”
“And?”
“The demand for high-speed internet is explosive, so Daehan Telecom is rushing to commercialize it. This is likely to be completed before the Lunar New Year.”
“Didn’t Samjin Computer say they are preparing for a test as well?”
“Yes, it’s also scheduled to come out before the Lunar New Year, but it seems they are short on funds.”
“Buy their stocks.”
“Is it okay? I heard they’re making a strange mobile phone there.”
“A strange mobile phone?”
“Yes, it’s for outgoing calls only, and it can only be used near a public phone.”
“What, such an inconvenient phone….”
“It seems they plan to decide the price later, but it’s expected to fail in the market.”
“Then let’s wait and see. It seems not every well around Lee Hyun-woo is filled with water.”
To be precise, should it be called a dry well?
It was good that Samjin Computer was challenging high-speed internet, but the fact that they planned a mobile phone that only works near a public phone was a perilous business.
It made him wonder if this would put a blemish on Lee Hyun-woo’s perfect sense.
‘We’ll have to watch. Whether Samjin Computer will go bankrupt due to a lack of funds or whether they will take the more promising of the two.’
In other words, if they only pursue high-speed internet, he was willing to buy their stocks to help them with funding.
Though he said help, he planned to invest in advance and later reap high returns or exert influence with considerable shares.
However, he kept picturing that if it were Lee Hyun-woo, he would have actively invested in risky areas for greater profit.
‘I’ll have to ask later. What does he think will happen to Samjin Computer?’
Asking for Lee Hyun-woo’s opinion was by no means embarrassing.
It was reasonable to see it as paying for a sharp analysis.
So, what benefits does Kim Tae-hyun give to Lee Hyun-woo?
‘At least we didn’t venture into portals and online shopping. Isn’t that something to be thankful for?’
He believed this was the case.
Once Guseong ventures into the market, Jungle’s market share would surely drop.
Even if not, it would at least cause concern, so Kim Tae-hyun thought he was being generous.
Of course, Lee Hyun-woo never thought so.
In the meantime, Lee Hyun-woo had asked Oh Min-woo and his younger brother several more questions to fully understand the value of the search engine created by Jungle.
‘With this, we can win no matter who enters the market.’
Here, ‘who’ included prominent domestic and foreign companies.
Rather, if they ventured in, it would only expand the market further, so it would be something to welcome with open arms.
‘In that sense, I’m curious. Why is there no news this time about Yaho entering the domestic market?’
In the past, there had been articles about Yahoo entering the domestic market as a test.
But since there were no concrete moves, he found it strange.
‘Ah!’
A sudden realization.
The plan for Jungle to venture into Japan in collaboration with Son Jung-yi had shifted the direction.
In his past life, Yaho Japan and Yaho Korea were both joint ventures.
In the end, thinking that he was the main cause made endorphins burst in his head.
To be honest, seeing the differences in this life compared to his past life was thrilling.
‘I hope new scenarios continue to unfold.’
However, the big picture couldn’t entirely change.
“Financial sector Bo-han crisis strikes! What to do with bad debts?”
“This year’s economic outlook for Korea shows potential for negative growth!”
“Exchange rate rise at the beginning of the year, looks ominous.”
The aftermath of Bo-han Group’s bankruptcy was significant, and the news kept coming.
Even on the day Lee Hyun-woo’s family was moving to Bundang, it was the same.
Both brothers took leave for the moving day, and in the evening, the family gathered to grill and eat pork belly, bringing up Bo-han Group as a topic.
“Hyung, Nostradamus got it right again. He said one of the groups with over 5 trillion KRW in revenue would go bankrupt.”
“What’s Nostradamus?”
“Oh, he’s an anonymous user active on our blog.”
“What’s a blog?”
“It’s like a diary recorded on the computer.”
“Oh, really?”
It’s uncertain if she understood, but their mother nodded.
At least she was trying.
Should we say she showed a bit of interest in what her children were involved in?
The problem was that it was so difficult she kept asking repeatedly.
On the other hand, their father, knowing the topic, quickly spoke up.
“They’ve been talking about Bo-han since last year. Saying it’s on the brink.”
“Oh, really? Then did Nostradamus just hit the mark after hearing the rumor?”
“We’ll have to see.”
Looking at his brother, who seemed to want an answer, Lee Hyun-woo smiled and responded.
But his mind was complicated.
‘Is there no new scenario related to the foreign exchange crisis?’
It was fun, but he hoped it wouldn’t happen if possible.
However, he continued to feel it was hard to avoid.
Bo-han’s bankruptcy was sure to cause chain reactions in the financial sector and among its transaction partners.
Recently, the plan to cover bubbles with bubbles was underway, but economic outlook reports surpassing the speed of the plan slightly exhausted him.
Then one fact came to mind.
‘What about my surroundings?’
If loans in the financial sector were not easily obtainable, the probability of business flowing smoothly was low.
Therefore, after dinner, Lee Hyun-woo contacted Kim Yoon-su.
“It’s me, hyung.”
(Oh, what’s up?)
“I have a small concern, can I ask?”
(What is it?)
“I was wondering if there were any funding problems due to the Bo-han crisis recently.”
(No. Father said not to worry.)
He had expected this.
He planned to call in the safest order.
So, after roughly wrapping up, he contacted Jung Sung-woo of Alpha Cast next.
(We were originally a company without money, but thanks to the support from the president, there’s no problem.)
“Do you have any loans?”
(We do. But it’s not much. Just over 100 million won.)
“When’s the maturity?”
(This summer.)
“I see.”
This company was also less worrying.
Perhaps it’s fortunate they couldn’t get more loans this time?
‘But it’s unlikely for Samjin.’
There was a precedent.
In his past life, they went bankrupt due to the IMF aftermath.
Especially, the failure of the outgoing-call-only mobile phone was significant.
In addition to that, there were many other blunders, but it started to go downhill from there.
‘I’ll have to visit him in person tomorrow.’
It was impossible to completely prevent the rerun scenario of the foreign exchange crisis.
So, Lee Hyun-woo wanted to minimize damage.
He thought to start by eliminating the damage around him and met the eccentric chairman the next day.
“Welcome, dongsaeng.”
“Oh, please not that far….”
Chairman Park Jin-yong, who had asked him to call him hyung last time, started calling him dongsaeng as soon as he saw him.
With a forty-year age difference, no matter how much Lee Hyun-woo tried, he couldn’t match it.
Maybe he found it amusing to see Lee Hyun-woo flustered?
“Keel keel keel.”
Park Jin-yong’s laughter filled the chairman’s office.
“What brings you here?”
“First of all, Happy New Year.”
“You already said that in the text.”
“Yes, but I thought I should greet you in person as well.”
“Then come for New Year’s bow on the Lunar New Year.”
“If time permits, I will.”
“You’re playing hard to get. Are you getting arrogant because you’re doing well these days?”
“It’s my original personality. If I do even better, I’ll act even more arrogantly.”
“Scary. Should I then serve you as my senior?”
“No matter what, I’m a person who strictly adheres to the hierarchy. So, I came carefully to ask something.”
“So, you didn’t just come for New Year’s greetings?”
“Yes, recently, the economic situation seems to be showing signs of tightening. And there’s also the problem of oversupply of computers.”
“How should I thank you for worrying on my behalf?”
“No, I’m just starting to worry that I might have burdened you with capital when I recommended high-speed internet last time.”
“It’s fine.”
Chairman Park Jin-yong smiled at Lee Hyun-woo without changing his expression.
Was it just lip service?
“In fact, I was planning something, but I boldly gave it up.”
“Oh, really…”
Somehow, it seemed like it was the outgoing-call-only mobile phone, so he asked directly.
“If it’s something you already gave up, can I ask what it was?”
“A mobile phone. It’s a pity, but it was only in the planning stage, so securing additional funds wasn’t easy.”
It was a huge relief.
‘It seems he made such a choice because high-speed internet succeeded earlier.’
Even if it wasn’t, Lee Hyun-woo smiled, thinking that’s what he would believe.
“Then you can think about it after the high-speed internet business succeeds.”
By then, he would realize that outgoing-call-only mobile phones were indeed useless.
In this way, a hopeful scenario began to draw itself in his mind again.
After the Bo-han crisis, it’s inevitable that some companies will collapse, but wouldn’t new rising companies fill their place well?
Interestingly, this time, the media extensively reported the name ‘Nostradamus.’
“Nostradamus hits the prophecy again!”
“Nostradamus, who predicts everything, becomes a hot topic.”
It was a different reaction compared to before, which could be seen as a sign that Jungle’s status had changed.
Even looking at the reports, they mentioned Jungle’s blog and Nostradamus’s past records.
‘With this, Nostradamus’s utility increases?’
So, once again, he fiddled with Nostradamus’s blog at home.
- The author pays attention to Geukdong Gas, a subsidiary of Bo-han Group. It’s the only place that can be liquidated.
The reason for mentioning that company.
Later, after selling Geukdong Gas, the money was embezzled and used for an overseas escape.
‘In this life, no way.’
The amount was a whopping 60 million dollars.
Since it was a company grown with taxpayers’ money, ‘Nostradamus’ planned to do his best to ensure the funds were fully recovered into the national treasury.
