New Employees With an Annual Salary of 1 Trillion Won - Chapter 14

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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 14. Overdrive Gear (4)

 

 

 

The PDA was literally a goldmine.

There were countless small but patentable items, and in just 3 weeks I had already created over 50 patent drafts to hand over to the Practical Affairs Team.

 

“Employee Lee! Another draft? We’re barely finishing the first patents and working on the second batch.”

“There aren’t that many this time.”

“How are we supposed to handle all of this! Give us a break.”

 

Judging by Manager Kim’s voice, he still had energy left.

If he were really exhausted, he wouldn’t even be able to speak.

It seemed the Department Manager was thinking the same thing as me.

 

“Manager Kim, looks like you still have energy left to run your mouth? Perfect. You’ll handle the second draft prototype production.”

“Department Manager! I’m really going to die. Yesterday my parents came up to Seoul and asked if I had entered a fasting center.”

 

Manager Kim’s face had indeed become half its size.

There was no need to worry. His obese weight had simply returned to normal.

 

The one we should actually worry about was the Department Manager.

As a result of excessively replenishing his stamina with late-night snacks, his body had doubled in size.

 

“That’s why I keep telling you to eat late-night snacks with me. Having fat firmly established like this increases survival probability.”

“Are you making us work so hard that we need to worry about survival! The workload has increased even more since the Support Team was created.”

“Of course it has. Before, we struggled with even 5 patent registrations per month. But now it’s 10 times that. Naturally the workload increases accordingly.”

 

This was why Manager Kim’s nickname was ‘Grumbler.’

I had come to accept his complaints as part of the routine, and the Department Members also took Manager Kim’s complaints as mere whining.

 

“Employee Lee, what exactly is inside your head? Who churns out patents like this?”

“These are easy ideas that anyone could think of.”

“Columbus said the same thing. That everything seems easy once you know it.”

“Manager Kim, stop grumbling and look at this. This should restore your motivation, right?”

 

The Department Manager spread out the stock price chart from the back of the newspaper.

The lines for Dream Rain and Saera Technology were especially highlighted with a highlighter, making them stand out at a glance.

 

“It dropped again. Why did stocks that were 2,300 won become 1,900 won?”

“That’s why you need to work hard. That’s how we’ll at least break even, right?”

“Sigh, I have to do it. I have to do it to survive. I need to get married next year and I need to earn money to at least get a studio apartment. Employee Lee, just forget everything I said. Make drafts as they come to mind and hand them over. Even if I die from lack of sleep, I’ll process them all!”

 

The stock decline ignited Manager Kim’s motivation.

I would have liked the stock prices to continue falling like this.

But the gears of Saera Technology and Dream Rain were slowly beginning to turn.

 

“I’ll go into the office. There are still many drafts I haven’t created yet.”

“Alright, work hard… no, take it easy!”

 

Even the Department Manager couldn’t hide his fatigue in the end.

He was someone who rarely showed signs of being tired, but if he was saying “take it easy,” I could guess how much work we currently had.

 

‘Still, there’s so much left to do.’

 

As soon as I entered the office, I started by organizing.

I put the blueprints and design materials back in their proper places, while also thinking about new patents.

There were still too many PDA-related patents remaining, most of them being design or UI-related patents.

 

It was time to raise the quality a bit.

Until now I had competed with quantity over quality, but the quantity was becoming so large it was actually causing problems.

It seemed I needed to bundle low-value patents together or raise the quality a bit more to properly coordinate with other teams.

 

“Let’s start with disassembly again.”

 

My only hobby.

For patent development, I had repeated PDA disassembly and assembly over hundreds of times.

Each time, I was able to acquire various information and knowledge.

 

‘Hmm, it’s too easy now.’

 

The PDA wasn’t satisfying anymore.

As I repeated the disassembly and assembly process for mobile phones and MP3 players as well, there was a common dissonance I could hear.

 

‘Capacity is the problem.’

 

PDAs, mobile phones, MP3 players – they all had woefully insufficient capacity.

Even when wanting to add functions, insufficient capacity held them back.

Since they used built-in flash memory, it was an unavoidable problem, and to solve this issue, storage devices like HDDs had to be used.

 

‘Isn’t there a way?’

 

Computers used HDDs, but portable devices couldn’t use them.

Price was an issue, but the bigger problem was that they were vulnerable to shock.

Portable devices literally had to be carried around and were inevitably exposed to various impacts.

 

And there was an even bigger problem.

The ‘size’ – HDDs were too large to use in portable devices.

Unless we were going to carry around brick-sized mobile phones like before, the size issue had to be solved first.

 

‘There was a reason large corporations weren’t doing this.’

 

There were mountains of other problems too.

The excessive power consumption problem had to be solved, and there were speed issues as well, making it difficult to tackle.

 

‘But it will have to change eventually.’

 

For the gears to produce perfect harmony, HDDs were necessary.

While a large corporation couldn’t even begin such research, our department could.

 

Large corporations aim to create perfect products and release them to the market.

But for us, we just needed to create patents, and our purpose wasn’t commercialization but patent registration through partial improvements.

 

***

 

The office of Product Development Department 3 was always a battlefield.

Everyone was busy without a moment to breathe, churning out the flood of patent drafts, and half the people were drinking coffee like IV fluid.

 

But this week’s atmosphere was a little different.

The third draft work was almost in its final stages, but Employee Lee Jung-hoo hadn’t submitted any new patent drafts for several days.

 

“When was the last time the youngest employee submitted a draft?”

“It’s been over two weeks, I think. He goes straight to Korea University when it’s time to leave work.”

According to Professor Park, he’s been going around to different research labs studying these days.”

 

The department members even sent their gratitude toward Korea University.

If it weren’t for Korea University, they would still be stuck in the swamp of patent drafts.

 

“What if he pours them all out at once again?”

“Then we’ll have to process them all again. We have to work to make money, don’t we?”

“I really hope this week passes quietly. My girlfriend is making a fuss about wanting to see my face.”

“Enjoy it while you can, man. I can’t even remember when I last saw my child’s face. Everyone else is getting laid off due to restructuring, so we should be grateful to at least have work.”

 

Team members enjoying the brief peace that had come.

But the moment the Patent Team office door opened, everyone’s mouths closed simultaneously.

 

“I’ve completed the drafts.”

“It took a bit longer this time.”

“The quantity isn’t much either. It’s a total of 4 cases.”

“Really? Well, quantity isn’t important. Quality is what matters. 4 cases is plenty.”

“Of course! It’s just the right amount.”

 

Aren’t they being a bit too happy?

Well, normally it would have been over ten drafts coming up at once, so 4 cases was truly a peaceful level.

But would they still feel that way after seeing the content?

 

“Now, let’s see what our youngest employee brought this time. Everyone gather around.”

“This patent is for a ‘Small HDD Development Project for Portable Devices’.”

“Oh! The title alone looks promising. Just the title alone looks like it could get patent registration.”

“But is a small HDD actually possible? Wasn’t this a technology that even the semiconductor sector gave up on?”

 

Since GL Group had a semiconductor business division, all team members were quite knowledgeable about related technologies.

Especially the Department Manager, who had experience reviewing HDD business entry in the past, examined the draft more carefully.

 

“Number 1 is a patent for ‘Vibration Absorption Structure’.”

“Vibration is definitely a problem. If we can’t solve this, HDD miniaturization is just a pipe dream.”

“It’s not a complex technology. It’s a structure that uses silicon rubber material as a shock absorber to absorb micro-vibrations. I miniaturized the existing PC vibration absorption structure and designed it with slight modifications for portable devices.”

 

Vibration was ultimately a defect caused by design failure.

I used every method possible to eliminate the dissonance coming from the defects.

Finally, when I found and implemented the solution of silicon shock absorbers, the jarring dissonance disappeared.

 

“Hmm… The idea is good, but the experiments will be quite tricky, won’t they?”

“To verify vibration absorption performance, we need 3D modeling followed by molding analysis. To make a prototype, we need to miniaturize the HDD itself, so this requires cooperation from professional semiconductor companies.”

 

I had already made all the plans.

This was a patent draft created while thinking about how department members could move for optimization.

 

And since this patent was more complex, I had made even more detailed plans.

The design itself looked simple, but proving performance was the problem.

Previous patents could have prototypes quickly made by the in-house practical affairs team, but this case was a patent that would inevitably cost several times more in time and money.

 

“There are many small-medium semiconductor companies without work these days. I know a few places, so I’ll look into places that could handle HDD miniaturization prototype production.”

“We also need to commission 3D analysis to external companies. We lack equipment, and simulation time takes too long.”

“Hmm, the cost will be quite substantial. For this level, we’ll need the Branch Manager’s approval. Wait a moment.”

 

Department Manager Cha Ik-hyeon picked up the phone without hesitation.

Tiger Fund’s Branch Manager always promised generous support, but actually making contracts with companies was another matter.

Perhaps that’s why tension appeared on the Department Manager’s face.

 

“This is Department Manager Cha Ik-hyeon from Product Development Department 3. Are you available for a call right now?”

[What brings you to call, Department Manager? If it’s a call from you, I should make time even if I don’t have any.]

“We need to proceed with contracts with external companies for a patent case currently under development. The cost seems like it will be quite substantial, so I’m reporting in advance.”

[If it’s necessary for patent development, we should naturally do it. Don’t worry about the cost and proceed. And even if we contract with companies, the development compensation support ratio remains the same.]

“The amount could be in the tens of millions of won.”

[It doesn’t matter if it’s not tens of millions but hundreds of millions of won. Proceed with the contract first and just send over the contract. I’ll process the cost within a day.]

 

It was the reaction I had expected.

This was a plan I made thinking that the Branch Manager would never oppose it.

 

And I really liked the current structure.

It was a structure that enabled time reduction and optimization.

When I was at GL Group, proceeding with one outsourcing contract required going through dozens of steps, and I had to bow my head several times to the funding department.

 

And the department members were also satisfied with this structure.

 

“Since the organizational structure is simple, this kind of thing is really nice. Just reporting to one Branch Manager and it’s done.”

“Finishing with one phone call, it’s really a new world. No reports needed, no bidding procedures… It is convenient.”

“Alright, everyone heard that? Hurry up and look into companies.”

“Department Manager, there are still remaining patents. We need to check the rest and then contract with companies all at once.”

“Right, we’ve only seen the first patent. Let’s move on to the next draft.”

 

The Department Manager turned his attention back to the draft documents.

I turned the page and began explaining.

 

“The second patent is an ‘Integrated Heat Sink Case’.”

“A patent to solve HDD heat problems? That won’t be easy.”

“That’s why I designed the case with a structure that allows air to flow through, and drilled ventilation holes so heat flow can escape well. It’s a structure effective for heat dispersion.”

“For this one, we just need to include one fluid analysis company. Still, the prototype can be manufactured by the in-house practical affairs team.”

“Then, let’s look at the next patent.”

 

The work proceeded smoothly.

Since all the team members were experienced in handling numerous patents, they only discussed what was necessary and quickly moved on to the next step.

 

“This time it’s a patent related to modular structure.”

“Oh, it’s a slide mechanism?”

“For use in portable devices, replacement needs to be easy. I designed it so that attachment and detachment is possible through a slide mechanism without screws.”

“We won’t need external companies for this. Our team can manufacture it directly.”

“Now only the final draft remains.”

 

The moment I turned the document, the team members’ eyes changed slightly.

Up until now, the patents had been mainly focused on mechanical structure design, but the final draft was closer to software content.

 

“Power saving mode…? What kind is this?”

“It’s a power saving algorithm that stops HDD rotation when not in use, and automatically restarts it quickly when accessed. Since it’s a simple structure, I implemented it in C Language.”

“So we just need to put this code into the HDD? It’s simpler than I thought.”

 

The structure was indeed not difficult.

It was at a level that could be implemented with about 20 lines of C Language, and application was relatively easy.

 

“Since we got the Branch Manager’s permission, we just need to select the right service provider. If we want to save time after work, we need to choose one that works well. Everyone use all your connections to look into it.”

“Managing subcontracting companies is originally my job! I’ll go and check it out myself!”

 

Manager Kim stood up, taking the lead.

Having caught an opportunity to go outside the office after a long time, he was already quite excited.

 

“While you’re at it, go have a meal with your girlfriend.”

“I can’t do that! Even if I eat, I’ll eat with the company representative. Employee Lee, do you want to come along too? It’s an opportunity to get acquainted with the related personnel.”

“Employee Lee should also go out and get some fresh air.”

 

An unscheduled business trip.

It wasn’t part of my routine, but I didn’t refuse.

I needed to see the subcontracting company’s capabilities with my own eyes to make future plans more certain.

 

And something was also bothering me.

I had an intuition that I shouldn’t let Manager Kim go to the service provider alone, so I decided to accompany him on the business trip.

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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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