may fail
‘If the first impression was bad, it wasn’t easy to reverse it.’
{It is 4 o’clock in the half room on the second floor of Dowon Dawon. You can come a little early, but never be late.}
A message has arrived from Im Hanul.
‘If we leave now, we’ll arrive 20 minutes ago.’
I never meant to be late for our first meeting. When I came out to the living room, Benjamin Chung approached me.
“Have you decided on a meeting place?”
“It’s a half room on the second floor of Dowon Dawon.”
“I’ll see you right away.”
As I approached the car waiting in the yard, the driver in charge opened the back seat door. Benjamin Chung and Jeffrey also got into the car while being naturally escorted into the car.
When Benjamin Chung entered the location on his cell phone, the road to Dowon Dawon came up on the navigation system.
“I will explain the main characteristics of Seol Gyeong-taek while we go.”
As the vehicle moved, Benjamin Chung once again recapitulated the summary of the previously heard report. Things he had to pay attention to: what he liked, what he didn’t like, and what he should never bring up.
“You must never make comments that disrespect science and engineering.”
Seol Gyeong-taek was a man of science and engineering to the very core. It was because he was a person who completed a doctoral course at MIT, established a startup, and achieved a success story.
“You’ll get extra points if you put an emphasis on education.”
Until Seol Gyeong-taek started as a member of the National Assembly, the business he focused on was an IT education academy. He was sincere in nurturing future talent to the extent that he focused on the quality of lectures even while running a deficit.
I also agreed with this point.
‘Because the future is created by young people.’
In order for Korea to remain an advanced country, it was more important than anything else to improve the people’s abilities. It needed a lot of creative talent that artificial intelligence could not replace.
While listening to his explanation, I started to see a sign saying Dowon Dawon. I could feel the years from the signboard written in Chinese characters.
‘Seol Gyeong-taek. What kind of person is he in reality?’
The success story of the common people. A self-made icon. A middle-aged member of the National Assembly who loves the young people of the future.
‘Am I really such a good person?’
Even if they pretended to be kind on the outside, there were plenty of people with different looks behind them. Didn’t Kai Walker also be so kind to Elisa and prepare to stab her in the back in the end?
Thanks to that, I was able to steal the San Francisco development plan obtained by Zach Gardner and buy the land there. I was told that half of the area I requested had already been purchased.
‘It’s a real fight from now on.’
Negotiations with the remaining people were necessary to obtain the land in its entirety. There, the true value of the law firm Sanctuary would be revealed.
‘Is it 3:40 now?’
Arrived 20 minutes early as expected. It seemed impolite to bring a bodyguard with you when meeting a big shot.
“(Jaffrey. I’m taking a break while drinking a drink.)”
“(I’ll wait.)”
Now if you pretend, you pretend.
From nob le mt l dot com
Just the two of us with Benjamin Chung headed to the meeting place, the half room. The waitress took the lead and guided us to our seats.
“This way.”
‘I wonder if Hanul is here first.’
When the door opened, two men appeared inside.
“Hey. Jaegu Kim.”
Hanul greeted me warmly.
“hahahaha. Is that the friend you mentioned?”
no. Why is Seol Kyung-taek already here?
What are you doing?
I checked my watch again.
‘It’s 3:40.’
The appointment time was 4 o’clock, so it was never late.
Seol Gyeong-taek greeted me with a cool smile that was only seen on TV.
“Please come in and sit down.”
Contrary to what I thought he would use in his first meeting, he used respectful words for me properly. His gaze moved to Benjamin Chung this time.
“Who is this?”
“This is my employee.”
“hahahaha. It looks like you’re here for business.”
“I’m here to learn a number.”
he chuckled.
Im Han-ul intervened.
“This guy is very good at business. It was he who helped Meta Molds almost go bankrupt.”
“You should have told me.”
“I noticed that I was able to contact someone who was busy.”
“My heart hurts more that you guys are ruined. The meta molds were an item to become.”
“hahahaha. It is this friend who introduced me to Daehan Market as well as investment.”
“Daehan Market?”
Seol Kyung-taek’s caterpillar-like eyebrows wriggled.
“yes.”
“How did you find out about Daehan Market?”
If Seol Gyeong-taek was really a tycoon, it was clear that I would be able to find something like B&T Financial if I did my background investigation. I don’t think I’ll find out about the stakes, but at least it won’t be hard to find out that I’m related to them.
“I belong to B&T Financial, the largest shareholder of Daehan Market.”
“okay?”
Seol Kyung-taek’s eyes shone strangely.
“Ah. I’m sorry. When I see younger friends, I feel like younger siblings.”
He smiled shyly and scratched the back of his head.
Looking at the money he invested in raising young people, that statement was not a lie, but a fact. Now, it has started to make a profit, but despite the loss, it operated an academy called IT Academy and invested in numerous Korean startups.
In fact, it was like spreading money to young people after coming to Korea. His resume was even more attractive.
“You can let go.”
“hahahaha. Can you do that? I’ll let you go when we get closer.”
I accepted it as saying that I would still look at the liver.
He handed over the menu.
“We have a lot of time, so let’s talk slowly over a glass of beverage.”
“Have you chosen?”
“Yes. You only have to choose two people.”
The menu board had several types of tea written on it, befitting the name Dowon Dawon. I showed the menu to Benjamin Chung.
“How about making it a set?”
“I’ll take the ssanghwa tea set.”
“Then I’ll make it a fermented black tea set.”
“Did you pick all of them?”
“yes.”
When Lim Han-ul noticeably pressed the bell, a waitress came and took the order.
After a while, teas in luxurious teaware reminiscent of the Joseon Dynasty were placed on the table. All of them were delicate pottery.
A subtle and savory aroma rose from the black tea.
‘It looks like an expensive car.’
I don’t know the car well. I just ordered fermented black tea rather than green tea because I thought it would be better for my body. As expected, the smell was very good.
“This tastes similar.”
Fermented black tea was also placed in front of Seol Kyung-taek. It wasn’t intentional, but it was really nice to have something in common.
“hahahaha. The savory flavor is excellent.”
“That’s right. It smells good too.”
He put his nose to the tea and inhaled the incense deeply. I even tried to imitate it once.
“President Kim Jae-gu is also running a business.”
“Yes. I’m doing an investment business.”
“Investment business? Do you have stocks?”
“Yes. We are considering investing in resources as well as stocks. Recently, we started investing in startups.”
Seol Kyung-taek’s eyes shone.
“Did you invest in other places besides Meta Molds?”
“Yes. Do you know Jemo?”
“Ah! Isn’t it a company that makes emotion analysis AI?”
“You know me well.”
I mentioned JEMO because I thought it would be immediately recognized if I talked about Roborabo, but Seol Kyung-taek answered without hesitation.
It was proof that they were still monitoring new technologies with interest.
“I heard that the key is to focus on increasing the calculation speed and to express refined emotions. I heard that a prototype model was released recently, but unfortunately I did not have a chance to see it myself. You have invested in a good company.”
“Thank you for the compliment.”
“There must be good companies in our country too.”
It seemed that the horse had bones.
“It’s my first time investing in startups, so I started with Silicon Valley. If there are good companies in Korea, I’d like to invest in them.”
“Isn’t it right next to you?”
“Han-Ul stubbornly refused even if I made an additional investment.”
Im Hanul smiled.
“Thanks to the reconstruction, the business is on track, so I don’t think we need additional investment for a while. We’re reinvesting the money that came in as an advance payment to expand the server and focus on refining the program logic.”
“Do you have any staff recruitment plans?”
“Yes. This time, we created an IT team and hired 5 additional employees. We will be returning to work next month.”
“Good.”
Seol Kyung-taek smiled with satisfaction.
To provide quality jobs in Korea and to give opportunities to young Koreans. It was clear that this was the future of Korea that Seol Kyung-taek wanted.
“Silicon Valley is good, but there are many good companies like Meta Molds. What field does President Kim Jae-gu like?”
He subtly pushed in the direction of investing, of course. The money in the bank account is 3.7 trillion won. As long as it wasn’t for the majority shareholder, I didn’t pay taxes, so it was completely my money.
In addition, Korean accounts were receiving nearly 30 billion won in revenue every opening day.
‘The main account is an American account, but there is a lot of money in the Korean account.’
Recently, he has focused on investing in the US market. It was because the market size was large and the probability of attracting attention was low. Sooner or later, when the asset survey is conducted, your name will rise to the list of the richest people in Korea just with the money you have.
“As expected, the future food industry will be the IT or medical industry. As evidence of the aging population, the market is expected to expand.”
“That’s a good idea. Unfortunately, it’s not easy for young people to jump into the field of new drugs.”
“Isn’t it difficult to start a business that requires a lot of capital investment as a startup?”
“That’s right. That’s why investors like us have to step in.”
Suddenly, the name was changed to us.
‘It feels like being ripped off.’
But he had a lot of money. Besides, isn’t it the intention to invest in the future of Korea, not money that disappears? So there was no need to listen carefully.
“Do you have a picture you’re drawing?”
“Just as prototype production has become easier with the advent of 3D printers, wouldn’t young people’s research be more active if someone could provide a device that requires a lot of investment?”
“Are you saying Congressman Seol Gyeong-taek will provide that device?”
“I’d like to, but…”
He sighed and met my eyes.
Ahh. It must be quite large. That’s why we need someone to invest more.
‘The interests seem to fit better than I thought.’
All I have is money.
What he had was popular support and power.
I was willing to invest about 100 billion won if I could invest in my name. When Ha-yeon grows up and sees her father investing here and there, I think she would be proud.
“It seems like a burdensome scale to invest alone.”
“I want to create a youth entrepreneurship industrial complex.”
Generally speaking, a start-up complex has a strong negative impression. It was because most of the places where the state built them in an orderly fashion and paid taxes on them.
It was not for nothing that the saying that taxes are blind money came about. It was to the point that even people making startups for the purpose of start-up support funds appeared.
“Has the Youth Startup Complex ever been successful?”
“Isn’t this the first step? If even one out of 10 can succeed and provide quality work, I think it’s a successful investment.”
The 5-year survival rate of Korean start-ups is about 30%. Among them, the percentage of companies that could be said to be successful was even lower.
“I’m going to invite professors I know as advisors to help develop technology. In the event of a legal dispute, we are also considering a direction to support a lawyer.”
There are many different types of entrepreneurship. Among them, deep tech startups had a fairly high success rate. It was because they did business based on technology that was difficult for others to imitate.
But technology doesn’t come easily. Unless the research was conducted in a university research institute, it was not easy for ordinary college students to create and realize new technologies.
‘Even when I was in the startup club, there were very few friends who started tech startups.’
It was that difficult.
In order for Korea to grow in the future, it was necessary to invest heavily in deep tech companies and expand the infrastructure so that young people who want to start a business can focus on technology development.
But at this point, are we talking about this?
Considering that next year is a general election.
“Is this a promise?”
“I’m thinking of making it into a promise.”
“Are you trying to do it yourself?”
“I haven’t decided yet.”
Seol Gyeong-taek was one of the leading presidential candidates. Because there was a presidential election next year, if you were going to be a member of the National Assembly now, you had to give up your seat in order to run for the election.
From our point of view, it was a loss.
‘Doesn’t he intend to become president?’
If not him, who the hell will be Yu-san’s opponent? I don’t know who it will be, but it was clear that it would at least be someone with more weaknesses than that.
“Are you planning to run for the general election?”
“I do not know.”
It was not a lying eye. Eye contact with him reminded me of something I had forgotten about while talking.