New Employees With an Annual Salary of 1 Trillion Won - Chapter 115

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Team. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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Chapter 115. Time of Harvest (5)

 

The long, long year of 2000 had finally come to an end.

 

Nexfin, Rollbook, and even Tiger Fund Korea Branch.

 

With so many places to belong to, year-end events followed one after another.

 

Just as I barely finished the year-end events without a moment to breathe, this time New Year events were waiting.

 

After finishing even those, before I knew it, a United States business trip schedule was laid out before me.

 

“Older Brother, you’re going to the United States tomorrow?”

 

“Are you planning to just laze around at home now?”

 

“I need to rest a bit. Once spring camp starts at the end of this month, it’ll be hard to see my face. Look at me a lot while you can now.”

 

“The fact that there’s a team that drafted a guy like you is still amazing to me.”

 

“The team that was overwhelmingly first place this year drafted me! Do you even know baseball, Older Brother?”

 

I didn’t know baseball, but I knew the corporate situation well.

 

The team Younger Brother joined was a professional baseball team belonging to Daehyun Group, and Daehyun Electronics, which was rapidly deteriorating financially, was the parent company.

 

“I heard rumors that it’ll be tough starting this year. Will you be okay?”

 

“We just need to work hard at baseball.”

 

“Right, work hard. You should at least play in one first-team game before going to the military, shouldn’t you?”

 

“You’re already talking about that stuff.”

 

Younger Brother who joined the baseball team belonging to Daehyun Electronics.

 

I had a feeling we’d keep getting entangled in the future.

 

To be precise, since Tiger Fund had already set a trap for Daehyun Electronics, we were inevitably bound to get entangled.

 

***

 

For Rollbook employees, the concept of going to and leaving work was vague.

 

More than half of the employees spent 24 hours at the company.

 

They practically lived at the company, to the point where some employees deliberately didn’t get homes.

 

“Senior, I heard CEO went to the United States again?”

 

“He’s attending the Macworld event, right? He said he’d be back in about two weeks, so there probably won’t be any urgent updates for a while.”

 

“If it’s the Macworld event, he might see Steve Jobs?”

 

“Ah! You’re new so you don’t know, right? When CEO Jobs visited Korea before, he stopped by our office too.”

 

“Really?”

 

Kim Sang-sik was telling war stories to the new employees.

 

On his desk, autographs from Steve Jobs and Bill Gates were displayed in frames.

 

“I decided to join Rollbook because of these autographs.”

 

“I’m really envious. I want to see their faces in person too.”

 

“I heard they’re broadcasting the main Macworld event on TV this time. Was it CNN? Or CNBC? It should start soon. Try changing the channel.”

 

The new employee hurriedly flipped through cable TV channels.

 

He belatedly found the Macworld event being broadcast live on a United States news channel without subtitles.

 

“Oh! They’re really broadcasting it live.”

 

“Let’s try to find CEO.”

 

“I can’t find him because the stands aren’t shown well?”

 

Before long, all Rollbook employees had gathered in front of the TV.

 

They started looking for Lee Jung-hoo’s face like a hidden picture puzzle, but no one could find him.

 

Meanwhile, when the screen switched, Steve Jobs appeared at the main event hall.

 

Appearing before thousands of spectators.

 

He wore a black turtleneck and jeans with his characteristic relaxed smile.

 

[Today, there are about three ways we listen to music. The most commonly used method would be CD players. Great sound quality, but too bulky. And the mini disc format is small but lacks compatibility. Finally, MP3 still has too many technical shortcomings. So we added innovation to MP3.]

 

Before long, the employees were absorbed in Jobs’ speech.

 

No one was doing the hidden picture search anymore, and they concentrated only on Steve Jobs’ voice without blinking an eye.

 

At that moment.

 

The lights dimmed and a huge phrase appeared on the screen.

 

‘1000 songs in your pocket’

 

Just the appearance of the phrase caused murmuring in the audience.

 

The lights brightened again and Jobs was holding a small silver device in his hand.

 

[We found a way to enjoy music more freely, more easily, and more beautifully. This is it!]

 

The screen sparkled again.

 

Soon after, the word iPod appeared on the screen.

 

[Large-capacity memory that can store 1,000 songs and 80% full charge with 20 minutes of charging. On your commute, during exercise, while traveling – music can now always be with you. And we decided to call this the iPod.]

 

Tremendous cheers erupted.

 

It was the appearance of a product with a completely different appearance from existing MP3s and overwhelming performance.

 

“Senior, our technology went into that, right?”

 

“Since they said it was made based on Rollbook Player, it must have gone in. Be quiet for a bit. The speech isn’t over yet.”

 

[We didn’t just make the iPod. We’re also introducing iTunes, innovative software that can manage and download digital music files.]

 

Jobs turned on the Mac at the table beside the stage and ran iTunes.

 

When the clean interface showed the song list, the audience nodded.

 

He selected several songs and pressed the play button, and lively music filled the hall through the speakers.

 

[You can download digital music files to create your own library. And you can sync with iPod with just one click. And you can also manage digital music files through other methods. iPod-exclusive features have been added to Rollbook Player. For detailed discussion, let me call the Rollbook CEO to talk.]

 

One more pin light turned on.

 

Then Lee Jung-hoo appeared at the event venue.

 

“Why, why is CEO there?”

 

“Is that really our CEO?”

 

“It’s awkward because it’s the first time seeing him dressed up in a suit, but that’s our CEO!”

 

The Rollbook employees couldn’t come to their senses at Lee Jung-hoo’s appearance.

 

Only after he stood on the platform and spoke did the employees realize that Lee Jung-hoo had really appeared at the Macworld Event Hall.

 

[Nice to meet you. I’m Lee Jung-hoo, CEO of Rollbook. Rollbook has long pondered the future of the music industry together with Apple. And in that process, CEO Jobs highly evaluated our technology.]

 

[The ultra-compact storage device and battery module mounted in the iPod, and most of the core functions of iTunes were directly designed and implemented by CEO Lee Jung-hoo. He is Apple’s most important partner and a companion who will create the future together going forward.]

 

Steve Jobs clasped Lee Jung-hoo’s hand.

 

Then he continued pouring out praise.

 

[The original release schedule for iPod was the end of this year. However, thanks to CEO Lee Jung-hoo’s excellent technology, we were able to move up the schedule and have this early release today.]

 

[All of this was possible thanks to CEO Jobs’ trust. And thanks to CEO Jobs’ bold decision, iPod can now be used on other operating systems through Rollbook Player!]

 

Tremendous cheers and applause poured out.

 

Someone stood up from their seat cheering, and flashes went off non-stop.

 

The moment a ‘Mac-only device’ became ‘everyone worldwide’s device’, the event hall was filled with explosive energy.

 

Steve Jobs fully enjoyed the audience’s cheers and then threw out his final words.

 

[Starting today, the music industry will change centered around Apple!]

 

With Steve Jobs’ final words, all the lights went out.

 

Though the live broadcast ended like that, the Rollbook employees just stared blankly at the TV.

 

“What happened?”

 

“Did our CEO really give a speech at the main Macworld event?”

 

“It was more like just exchanging a few words rather than a speech, but he appeared.”

 

The Rollbook employees still couldn’t come to their senses.

 

But they soon snapped to attention at the sound of phone bells ringing one after another.

 

“Yes, this is Rollbook.”

 

[This is reporter Park Jin-woo from Daeyoung Daily. Is it true that CEO Lee Jung-hoo attended the Macworld event?]

 

Calls and emails flooded in from all Korean media companies.

 

From inquiries confirming event attendance to interview requests.

 

Only then did the Rollbook employees realize that CEO Lee Jung-hoo had really attended the Macworld event.

 

“Everyone start responding right away. I’ll contact CEO.”

 

“I thought we could rest for two weeks, but we’ll be even busier, won’t we?”

 

“Is this the time to say such things? Rollbook access is exploding! Respond quickly.”

 

***

 

After finishing the Macworld event, I moved to the VIP Room.

 

Steve Jobs, who had already arrived, greeted me with a bright smile.

 

“Thank you for responding to my sudden request.”

 

“I had no idea I would be going up on stage, so I showed an unprepared appearance.”

 

“Not at all. Rather, that kind of appearance from Mister Lee would have reached the audience more sincerely.”

 

This event was not coordinated in advance at all.

 

It was truly Jobs who spontaneously called me up to the stage.

 

“I wanted to officially let our customers know that Apple is in a cooperative relationship with Rollbook.”

 

“Wouldn’t the customers rather dislike it? Since it’s now official that because of Rollbook, it can be used not just in Mac’s ecosystem but also on other operating systems including Windows.”

 

The Rollbook Player was originally planned to be used through unofficial routes.

 

But for some reason, Jobs announced at the official event that the iPod could also be used on other operating systems.

 

Of course, it was possible because I didn’t oppose it.

 

I had no reason to oppose it. It could help increase iPod sales.

 

“It was an unavoidable choice. Other competitors were also announcing the release of new MP3 players.”

 

“If that’s the reason, it’s certainly a good choice. You can simultaneously expand market share and keep competitors in check.”

 

“Thanks to the report Tiger Fund sent saying that market expansion would be difficult with a closed strategy alone, I was able to convince the Board of Directors.”

 

It wouldn’t be wrong to say that I designed the current situation.

 

I had sent dozens of reports to Apple under the names of Tiger Fund, Rollbook, and Nexpin.

 

I had continuously pressured them saying that satisfactory sales couldn’t be achieved with just the Mac ecosystem, and that they needed to implement more open policies.

 

Of course, I didn’t know that would lead to me going up on stage.

 

“The iPod is an excellent device that could monopolize the MP3 market. It would be too wasteful to let only Mac users use such a device.”

 

“I’m grateful that you think that way. And though it might be early to talk about this already, we’ve started designing the iPod 2nd generation.”

 

The iPod launched today.

 

Yet Apple was already preparing the 2nd generation.

 

This meant they were confident in the iPod’s success, and I could feel their determination to accelerate and dominate the market.

 

“Rollbook and Nexpin will help so we can assist in the iPod 2nd generation design.”

 

“That’s how it should be. Actually, calling Mister Lee to the stage today was also to announce to the world that Apple had secured Rollbook and Nexpin first.”

 

I had vaguely expected this too.

 

The moment I went up on the Macworld stage, I would inevitably have a strong association with Apple.

 

“Most of Rollbook and Nexpin’s technology proceeds with non-exclusive license agreements. Just securing them first won’t be of much help.”

 

“Rollbook and Nexpin aren’t what’s important. My purpose is to secure Mister Lee first. After all, all of Rollbook and Nexpin’s technology comes from you.”

 

Jobs showed strong obsession.

 

It wasn’t simple praise, but I could strongly feel his determination to tie me down in his eyes.

 

Since it seemed the situation wouldn’t change no matter what I said here, I diffused the situation with laughter, and thus the Macworld event came to an end.

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Team. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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