New Employees With an Annual Salary of 1 Trillion Won - Chapter 141

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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 141. Cracks (5)

The General Manager seemed to have been worried about me.

More than 20 people from headquarters alone were assigned to the Korea Branch.

They were all skilled professionals who had graduated from prestigious American universities and accumulated at least 5 years of experience on Wall Street.

“The General Manager went too far. If you force capable employees to transfer to Korea, there will be significant backlash.”

“These are all people who voluntarily requested assignment to Korea. In fact, I heard the General Manager had more trouble narrowing down the candidates. Over a hundred employees applied for Korea assignment.”

The Deputy Branch Manager’s words didn’t sound like lies.

But it wasn’t easy to accept.

The fact that they chose to come to Korea, leaving behind the massive market of Wall Street, was simply unbelievable.

“I knew there was great interest in emerging markets on Wall Street, but I didn’t expect it to be this much.”

“It’s not emerging markets, but specifically the Korea Branch that’s popular. At headquarters, they call the Korea Branch a coveted position.”

“Compared to headquarters, it’s smaller in scale and less convenient to live in. Why is that?”

“Obviously because you’re here, Branch Manager. Moreover, the Korea Branch is already recording higher returns than headquarters. Even the scraps that fall are bigger than headquarters, so who would refuse?”

More than 20 talented individuals came to Korea because of me.

Even if half were Korean-American, the remaining 10 were Americans who couldn’t speak a word of Korean.

“I can’t let such talented people get bogged down with menial tasks. We need to hire new employees.”

“I was already preparing for that. To keep up with your pace, Branch Manager, our current staff isn’t enough.”

Certainly, there were too many ongoing projects for our current staff to handle.

Until now, we had borrowed personnel from Nexpin and Rollbook to share the workload, but now the scale had grown too large for such makeshift operations.

“Let’s proceed with large-scale new hiring this time.”

“By large-scale, how many people are you talking about for which subsidiaries?”

“First, 100 people for Tiger Fund. And we need to create a new IT development department to support all subsidiaries. We should hire about 300 developers, from experienced to entry-level. Also, since the semiconductor factory and Nexcon factory expansions will be completed early next year, we need to hire field workers as well.”

All together, it meant hiring at least 1,000 people.

Since Korean large corporations had been reducing new hires after the IMF crisis, this was a number comparable to major corporations.

“1,000 people is definitely large-scale hiring. There will be quite a lot to prepare.”

“Since each subsidiary can set their own hiring standards, we won’t have that much to prepare. Oh! And please continue hiring semiconductor experts.”

“I’ll proceed that way. But is there a reason for hiring 300 developers?”

There was a lot of work for developers ahead.

I needed to secure developers in advance to smoothly create what I had in mind.

“We’ll be putting more effort into IT going forward. So 300 isn’t a large number. We plan to recruit even more, so keep that in mind.”

“Thanks to fewer companies wanting developers after the IT bubble, we should be able to smoothly secure skilled IT developers.”

This was an era when IT developers were looked down upon.

Due to the IT bubble, people were saying IT was an illusion.

But eventually the IT era would come, and we had to secure developers in advance.

“Please hire any skilled IT developers without question. Oh! And we need to bring in semiconductor management as well.”

“Are you talking about Daehyeon Semiconductor?”

“To start the foundry business anew, Daehyeon Semiconductor’s management alone isn’t enough. So I’m thinking of bringing people from Intel.”

I had been thinking about new management for Daehyeon Semiconductor for a long time.

I had checked all the information on executives from Samsung Electronics, TSMC, and famous American semiconductor companies.

And I was able to find several suitable candidates.

For Daehyeon Semiconductor to succeed in the foundry business, we absolutely had to bring them over.

“You mean scouting from Intel?”

“That’s right. I heard that Intel has been prioritizing finance over technology for the past few years. There are even rumors that the next CEO will be appointed from a non-technical background.”

“The current CEO is from a technical background, but he’s been managing with more focus on finance than technology.”

Intel was leaning from technology-centered to finance-centered.

In such an atmosphere, scouting was definitely possible.

“There must be many engineers who can’t stand this environment. Especially among executives, there must be many who want to go outside and prove their abilities.”

“Do you already have someone in mind?”

“I’m planning to recruit Pat Gelsinger. If necessary, I’ll even borrow Chairman Robertson’s influence to definitely bring him over.”

The Deputy Branch Manager didn’t seem to know his name well.

He was also from an accounting background, not an engineering one.

“Is he that skilled?”

“He’s the chief architect of the 486 processor and an engineer who rose to Intel CTO.”

“Would such a person be willing to come to Korea?”

“That’s why we need the Chairman’s help. If that doesn’t work, I’ll have to fly to America myself to persuade him.”

“If the Chairman steps in, it would definitely be a big help.”

Daehyeon Semiconductor also needed a symbolic figure.

To sign foundry contracts with global companies, a person with name recognition had to step forward for negotiations to proceed smoothly.

But one person alone wasn’t enough.

He was excellent in design and R&D, but had no experience in contract manufacturing operations.

Therefore, we absolutely had to recruit additional foundry operations and process experts, and I had already prepared a list.

“And please contact everyone on this list as well.”

“For this scale, we’ll need to mobilize even the Asia Branch. I’ll do my best to cooperate with headquarters and bring everyone over.”

The list had dozens of names written on it.

They were people working at companies in Korea, Taiwan, the United States, and Japan.

To recruit such talents from various countries, headquarters, the Asia Branch, and Korea Branch had to move simultaneously.

***

The next day.

I arrived at the Nexpin office at 7:51 AM as usual.

When I opened the curtains and windows wide, cool air flowed into the room.

As I was routinely changing the water dispenser and watering each plant one by one.

Thud!

A heavy sound from the doorway.

When I turned my head, the Deputy Branch Manager was staring at me blankly, having dropped a file folder on the floor.

“Is something wrong?”

“Branch Manager… why are you doing such menial tasks?”

“These aren’t menial tasks, but things I need to do. What brings you here so early in the morning, Deputy Branch Manager?”

“The first draft for new employee recruitment is complete, so I came to report.”

The Deputy Branch Manager quickly picked up the file folder from the floor and approached.

“Just leave the documents on the desk. I’ll review them and give you an answer.”

“Is there anything I can help you with?”

The restless Deputy Branch Manager.

He kept glancing at the spray bottle in my hand.

Meanwhile, Nexpin colleagues started arriving for work and naturally greeted me.

“Employee Lee came early again today.”

“Assistant Manager, you’re here. Would you like a cup of coffee?”

“I always welcome coffee made by Employee Lee.”

I turned toward the coffee machine.

Then the Deputy Branch Manager quickly blocked my way and tried to do work I hadn’t asked for.

“I’ll make the coffee.”

“It’s fine. I do this because I like it.”

“But… how can the Branch Manager do such things…”

I couldn’t leave the Deputy Branch Manager like this as it might disrupt my morning routine.

“Please return to the Fund Office. Let’s meet this afternoon.”

“Ah, understood.”

The Deputy Branch Manager seemed to have seriously misunderstood something.

He backed away, awkwardly scanning every corner of the Nexpin office before going outside.

I was treated as Branch Manager at the Fund Office.

But at Nexpin, I was living like the youngest employee, so it was understandable that he’d be confused.

However, there was no real difference between Nexpin and the Fund Office for me.

Because I’m controlling both spaces exactly the way I want.

“Since everyone’s here for work, I’d like to present a new draft.”

“Again? We still have smart factory patents left. What kind of factory produces so many patents? We get dozens of factory-related patents every week.”

“You can proceed alongside the factory patents. Since we have plenty of time, you can process them slowly.”

“What kind of patent requires such a large volume?”

The President put down his coffee and approached me.

Then he checked the patent draft and tilted his head in confusion.

“Smart apartment patent? After factories, now it’s apartments?”

“It has many similarities to smart factories, so it’ll be convenient to work on them together. Draft number 1 is a central control home network system.”

“Is it a concept that expands on intercoms?”

Among new apartments, there were places that advertised themselves as digital apartments.

But they were limited to controlling entrance access from the living room, and the wall pads had simple structures.

“It’s a system where you can control lighting, boilers, air conditioners, gas valves, and everything else through a wall pad attached in the living room.”

“Like in hotels? In hotels, you can control lighting and air conditioning with a remote.”

“Similar, but different. It’s a system where you can control all home appliances from outside as long as you have internet access.”

All my colleagues showed interest and examined draft number 1.

Since it had many similarities to smart factories, they understood it without difficulty.

“This also has tons of sensors.”

“Sensors are necessary for precise control.”

“We can use that old patent for attaching Wi-Fi to home appliances here.”

“Not only Wi-Fi, but Bluetooth can also be applied.”

“It shouldn’t be too difficult.”

The remaining patent drafts were all related to smart apartments.

“The next patent draft is a shared facility network system. It’s a patent that allows you to control or reserve shared facilities.”

“Do apartments have shared facilities?”

“Daehyeon Construction is planning to build premium apartments, and those apartments will include various shared facilities like gyms, swimming pools, and even indoor golf courses.”

Smart apartments were also patents for Daehyeon Construction.

To become truly premium apartments, they needed differentiation from existing apartments, and I planned to fill that gap through Nexpin.

“Wow, if this kind of system actually goes into apartments, it would be really convenient.”

“And there’s also a mobile phone integration system.”

The next draft was a patent for integrating apartments with mobile phones.

With current technology, apartment systems could only be controlled through PCs connected to the internet, but using this patent, simple controls could be handled through mobile phones.

“What exactly do you do with a mobile phone?”

“Precise control like with PCs is difficult. But basic operations are possible when integrated with ARS. By connecting home phones to apartment servers, it works like: press 1 for lighting, 2 for heating, 3 for gas shutoff.”

It was a bit inconvenient.

Mobile phones weren’t PCs, after all.

So using ARS was the best method for now.

However, if mobile phones developed just a little more, someday all precise controls would become possible.

It was important to secure patents in advance for that time.

“It would be nice to have. I’ve gone out to play several times after forgetting to turn off the gas and had to go back home.”

“Besides ARS, I’ve also created a patent for control methods using text messages. It’s a system where you can control lighting or heating by inputting specific commands.”

“It’s good, but when will we finish all this? Phew.”

Patent drafts numbering in the hundreds.

The Nexpin colleagues held their heads, then divided up the workload among themselves and returned to their seats.

Seeing my colleagues sighing deeply as soon as they sat down, I couldn’t help but smile.

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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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