67. Will you be able to sleep properly tonight?
The next afternoon, after organizing my thoughts until the morning, I called President Nam Won-jeong and Brother Jae-ha.
“Brother Jae-ha, did you hear the story?”
“Oh, I heard it from Mr. Nam, but I don’t know what the hell he’s talking about.”
From nob le mt l. co m
Jae-ha just looks dumbfounded.
It’s a natural reaction.
If it were me, I would have thought it was someone banging on a bongchang in the middle of the night.
“Brother.”
“Yes.”
“I know it’s probably crazy, but this time, I want you to just do what I say, and it’s not like I’m going to go crazy for a while.”
“Okay. I’ll do whatever you want.”
Like a nightmare, it would happen.
In the not-too-distant future.
When it does, they’ll be suspicious, but they won’t doubt my word anymore, so until then, I’ll just have to keep pushing through.
I can’t go around explaining myself, and it’s not like I’ll ever be able to.
“Mr. Nam”
“Yes, Mr. Chairman.”
“You know those people that Dr. Kwon talked about yesterday?”
“You know, the people at the CDC who quit during the MERS outbreak?”
“Yes, I heard that.”
“Ask Dr. Kwon for a favor, and bring some of them on board. Just make sure you do it on their terms.”
“Okay.”
I can’t ask Junho Kwon every time I want to do something, and since I’m a government employee, there are limits to asking for advice.
It’s better to just drive him around for a few minutes and let him do his job.
No one would blame me if I spent more than 30,000 won for a meal.
“And you know that Ekmo thing?”
“Yeah, it’s an extracorporeal membrane oxidizer.”
“Oh, you memorized that in one sitting?”
“Hmph! No way, not even the chairman, who’s in his 30s, can memorize it.”
“Well?”
“I went home and studied it yesterday.”
Again, successful salarymen are different.
“By the way, didn’t you say that you were successful in localization?”
“Yes, with government support, Seoul National University Hospital and several large hospitals have just succeeded. They haven’t mass-produced it yet.”
“Really?”
“Yes, they are planning to transfer the technology to a company and start full-scale production in the second half of this year.”
“Hmmm—.”
That means they won’t be able to mass produce it until next year, which is too late.
“Who’s the company that’s going to produce it?”
“There are two companies, one specializing in medical devices such as ventilators and the other in cardiac defibrillators, called McUrthy Medical.”
“Are the companies big?”
“No. They’re both publicly traded, but they’re small and medium-sized companies. There are very few big players in medical device production in Korea.”
“Buy them both. Is that possible?”
“Yes, they’re small, so it shouldn’t be too difficult, but do you think it’s necessary?”
“My guess is it’s just a matter of time. I can’t work around this, that, and the other. Buy them both. Delist them, too. I don’t want to be a shareholder or anything.”
“Delisting would cost me more money because I’d have to do a tender offer to make it 95%+.”
“I don’t care, do it.”
“Yes, I understand.”
“In addition to that, buy some medical device companies that can help with the pandemic, like diagnostic equipment. I’ll give you the funds as you ask.”
“Okay.”
After I finished speaking with Mr. Nam, I turned to Jae-ha.
“Jae-ha.”
“Huh?”
“You’re the best at sewing, right?”
“What do you mean?”
“You make masks and protective suits, right?”
“Protective clothing?”
“Is a hazmat suit a protective suit?”
“You mean the ones you wear when you do things like quarantine for foot-and-mouth disease? They’re officially called protective clothing. They’re also called protective suits.”
“Hmm? How do you know that so well?”
“Didn’t you just say yourself, I’m the best at sewing?”
“I was just kidding. Are these also sewn?”
“Isn’t a hazmat suit a garment? It’s the same thing, just cut from non-woven fabric and sewn?”
“Have you ever made these before?”
“I exported them a long time ago.”
This guy is a real ghost when it comes to sewing.
“Well, that’s good. I need you to prepare it for mass production.”
“That’s easy, how much?”
“Simple?”
“It’s simple, right? You just need to get a lot of fabric and that’s it. There are plenty of sewing places. We can even do it with the electric poles we mainly produce. The labor is expensive.”
“That’s what it is?”
“Hazmat suits are clothes, too. Especially for the kind of pandemic you’re talking about, most of them are Level D. Some level C. Isn’t that right?”
“Yeah.”
“Why don’t we just think of it as the end of the year and get a mass production system in place?”
“Hmph! You’re a ghost.”
This is why you need to work with someone competent.
“But you should know this: it’s a waste if you get a lot of fabric and nothing happens.”
“Don’t worry about that. It’s better if nothing happens.”
“Sure. But how much?”
“Dadaixun, I think the whole world, not just our country, will be swept away by the pandemic. Maybe our history will be divided into before and after this!”
“Zee, are you serious?”
“I’m serious, so I need you to get as much as you can.”
“Okay. You know about lifting the funding restrictions, right?”
“Okay. And make sure you get masks.”
“KF-94 or something like that?”
“Whoa!”
What the hell does this guy not know?
“How do you know about masks?”
“What are you talking about? You’ve sold masks before, right?”
“Me? When?”
“We do masks for babies, did you forget that already?”
“Oh!”
“Besides, after Mr. Hong quit and went to America, I did some market research to see if we could get into the adult market, because he said the yellow dust was going to get worse and worse.”
Does Mr. Hong have prayer beads?
It seemed like the real Mr. Hong had.
“So I was running around and doing a lot of research. I even talked to a medical mask company who told me to buy their company.”
“Then why didn’t you do it?”
“Hey! Have you forgotten what Mr. Hong is like? He does it all the time. He did it with dog clothes, he did it with baby skin care, he tried to do eco-friendly toys once, he tried to do adult clothes, he tried to do—.”
“Stop!”
I’ve been living too easy.
I’ve forgotten all about the live shows we did under Mr. Hong as a new business.
“Back then, a mask company wanted to buy it for 3 billion, but I didn’t bother.”
“That’s all they do?”
“They’re all small businesses. The masks are actually all made by machines, and all you need is a machine, a guy to feed the material in the front, and a guy to collect the stuff that comes out the back, and then you can take it and you can get a bunch of neighborhood ladies part-time jobs to package it.”
“I see.”
“Three billion is a pretty big company.”
“Yeah—.”
“Is this unlimited?”
“So it’s all about getting a machine to make the masks and the fabric, right?”
“That’s right, so even if we place an order now, if we do it in large quantities, it will come in by the end of the year.”
“Then buy a few companies, expand your production facilities, order a few hundred mask machines, and stock up on fabric, because if the pandemic is as bad as I think it will be, there’s going to be a global fabric shortage.”
“Of course.”
“And watch out for offshore production. If it happens, governments are going to start cracking down.”
“What?”
“No way, they’re going to catch you. You have to think of it as almost a wartime state. If you’re like my brother, there’s a war, and you’re going to let them export munitions just because they were previously contracted to do so? This is a war, a war!”
“…”
“…”
If my nightmare comes true, there will be a real mask war.
However, even though Namjungwon and Jaeha’s brother, or frankly the owner, might be a little off, they’re probably just going along with it because they don’t think I’m worthy of their property.
“If you need a place to store the fabric, tell Mr. Nam, Mr. Nam!”
“Yes, Mr. Chairman.”
“I want you to cooperate fully with Mr. Lee in this matter. I want you to search all the warehouses in Korea to find a place to store them.”
“Understood.”
“Whew—.”
I finally feel a little less burdened.
Will I be able to sleep properly tonight?
“Excuse me, Mr. Chairman.”
“Yes, Mr. Nam.”
“Are you sure there’s going to be a pandemic?”
“Yes, I’m sure.”
“Hmmm, so when do you think it will be, approximately?”
“Umm—.”
The seasons I saw in my nightmares usually looked like winter. Since people’s clothes were thick, it seemed reasonable to assume that it was this winter, not my later years.
“I think it’s the end of the year at the earliest, early next year at the latest, but why?”
“hahahahaha, I know this is a little crazy, but I’m going to try to be a little crazy.”
“Like, is that what you mean?”
“Well, if you’re right about your prediction-or should I say prophecy-anyway, if you’re right, the world is going to change dramatically.”
“Wouldn’t it?”
“Well, let’s say. Just like what Dr. Kwon said yesterday, something more powerful than the Mers overtakes the human race. What will happen then?”
“…”
“Well, let’s leave out the medical stuff, that’s something we should be prepared for. If we leave that out, first of all, the borders will be sealed and the movement of people will be restricted.”
“Ah—.”
I finally understood what President Namjung was trying to say.
He’s trying to make investment and business plans based on my prophecy(?).
“If that happens, the airline and other passenger industries will boom.”
“That’s right.”
“The same goes for tourism and travel-related industries, and offline retail will suffer, at least for a while. But that doesn’t mean we can’t consume, right?”
“Online!”
“Shipping industry!”
Me and Jae-ha exclaimed at the same time.
“hahahahaha! That’s right, even if we don’t, distribution that was moving from offline to online will rapidly shift its center of gravity to online.”
“Oh!”
“Then, naturally, the things that go along with it will follow, like couriers and deliveries. Not to mention online malls.”
“Right!”
“Do you understand? If what Mr. Kwon or the chairman said yesterday is correct, no, from now on, I’m not going to say it as an assumption, but as a certainty, because if the chairman has already made a decision, we, Karma Holdings, will follow it unconditionally.”
“Ho-ho!”
Man, I can see why you’ve risen to the top of the private group keynote room at such a young age.
Regardless of the process, once the owner has made a decision, everything is scarily driven in line with it.
I mean, what’s not to like?
“What do you think, Mr. Chairman? A pandemic is a pandemic, and business is business. I know you mean well, Mr. Chairman, and you’re getting into the healthcare business, but outside of that healthcare business, if you follow through with your business plan with our predictions, you’re going to make a ton of money, and it’s not even unethical.”
“Of course not, right? I mean, I wouldn’t think twice about making money on pandemic prevention or medical supplies, but not in other areas!”
“hahahahaha! You’re right, Mr. Chairman. We’ll organize our business plan for next year and beyond accordingly.”
“Please do so. And if you need funding, just let me know.”
“hahahahaha! Got it.”
That night, I slept soundly with no nightmares.
Proof that I was on the right track.
The entire human race will be in crisis.
But I can’t take care of all of humanity.
The country I was born in comes first, and I have to do what I can within my power.
And if you can afford it, it would be best to help countries like the U.S. that you have ties to or have good relations with.
I’m sleepy.
Let’s get some more sleep.