New Employees With an Annual Salary of 1 Trillion Won - Chapter 31

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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 31. Simple Payment System (1)

 

 

 

A whole week.

I had been conducting English lessons with the Branch Manager every day.

Today too, I was preparing to leave work to proceed with the English lesson.

Seeing me like this, my office colleagues couldn’t hold back their laughter.

 

“Employee Lee, have a good trip. At least the Branch Manager buys you delicious food.”

“Wow, I’m really jealous. I studied English for nothing. If I didn’t know English, I could have gotten tutored by the Branch Manager together with Employee Lee.”

“Youngest Employee~ Hehe! Hurry and go. The Branch Manager must be waiting.”

 

These colleagues seem to have plenty of energy left.

In that case, it should be fine to bring out the gift I prepared in advance.

 

“President! The patent draft is complete, so I’ll report and then leave work.”

“For a draft, there’s quite a lot of content?”

“I changed the MP3 operation method from buttons to a rotation system. Everything from UI to software and button structure is subject to patents.”

 

The employees looked slightly flustered.

But it wasn’t over yet.

 

“It looks like there are other materials too, is there more by any chance?”

“Yes. These are PDA OS related patents. It’s called a ‘Multitasking’ patent, a structure that enables multiple tasks. I designed it to compress and store existing applications, then quickly restore them when switching tasks.”

“This… should yield at least 10 patents?”

 

Ten was the minimum estimate.

I continued speaking clearly so my colleagues could hear well.

 

“The compression storage method alone would yield more than 3. The UI switching method is also patentable, and including memory optimization, energy saving, user setting functions, and priority management systems, we could get a considerable number.”

“Not just 10, but up to 20 could come out.”

“Please handle all the patent registrations.”

“Good work. The Operations Team and Support Team will handle the rest, so don’t worry and go home.”

 

I greeted the President and turned around.

I could see my colleagues who couldn’t say anything, as if time had stopped.

I quietly nodded to all of them and left the office.

 

At that moment.

My colleagues’ outcries poured out through the crack in the door.

 

“Why now! We just finished processing all the requests, why again!”

“20 patents? When are we going to process all of this!”

“Stop complaining! The Youngest Employee worked so hard to make these, of course we should register them quickly! Isn’t this all bonus money? Just because stocks went up a bit, you’ve gotten so complacent!”

 

Despite the President’s scolding, sighs continued to burst out.

I stood still for a moment and enjoyed the sound of sighing.

To my ears, it sounded like the beautiful harmony of gears meshing and turning.

Using that sound as BGM, I headed to where the Branch Manager was waiting.

 

“Employee Lee, you’re here? Today, before we start the lesson, let me share some good news first. We resolved the copyright issues as reported.”

“Already? All copyright negotiations were completed in just one week?”

“Thanks to Employee Lee organizing everything well. We didn’t need to negotiate all copyrights held by the Copyright Association, just about 100 songs for now, so it wasn’t too difficult.”

 

Copyright issues were essential for putting music on Rollbook personal pages.

But securing all songs would take too long, so I had requested only the latest music rankings from 1st to 100th place.

 

“The pricing was also very reasonable. Purchasing aside, how did you think of renting music?”

“Since the main users are students, I thought their preferred music styles would change quickly, so I considered a rental system.”

“At 500 won per song, it’s affordable for students and provides decent revenue.”

“It was surprising that the Copyright Association agreed to 500 won. I thought they’d reject it as too little, and I was worried about singers’ backlash.”

 

500 won for a 30-day rental of one song.

It was honestly too cheap.

Even if the association didn’t mind, it was an amount that could hurt singers’ pride.

 

“It was possible because standards for music sources haven’t been established yet. And singers don’t directly participate in negotiations. In Korea, the Copyright Association has all decision-making power.”

“You mean any conditions can be negotiated just by convincing the association?”

“That’s right. Since the association has full authority, there’s no need for individual discussions. Should I contract all songs registered with the association for you?”

“No. Just because we have a contract doesn’t mean we can immediately upload all songs.”

 

The Branch Manager tilted his head slightly.

This reaction came because while he was skilled with administrative processing and legal issues, he wasn’t familiar with website operations.

 

“Why can’t they be uploaded?”

“Most music produced now is recorded specifically for CDs or cassette tapes. To put them on the internet, they need separate music source mastering work.”

“So it takes time because separate work is needed.”

“With our manpower, about 100 songs per month is our limit. More than that would be difficult to handle.”

 

Unless singers recorded in music source format from the beginning,

creating digital music sources by extracting from CDs or tapes like now took quite a lot of time.

 

“Let me contact a few companies. There might be places that can provide music source files.”

“That would definitely save time.”

“Don’t expect too much. But if Rollbook becomes more popular, singers might start offering music sources first, don’t you think?”

 

Actually, who would bother making music sources in the current environment?

The moment music sources are made, they’d obviously spread for free all over the internet, so there was no reason to make them.

 

“Once a culture of people paying to listen to music is established, Rollbook’s sales will start rising in earnest. Right now it’s just used as BGM, but in the future, we want to service various music within Rollbook.”

“That day will come eventually. But is the point payment issue being resolved well? I heard paid services will launch soon?”

“Preparations are complete, but the problem is we can’t bring a system like PayPal directly to Korea. For simple payments, we ultimately need help from banks or PG companies (payment service providers).”

 

Point payments, which handle a huge axis of Rollbook.

But there were too many regulations. I looked for loopholes, but it was difficult to find solutions.

In the end, we had no choice but to depend on Korea’s existing financial system rather than an independent method like PayPal.

 

“Can we provide the desired service if we just have a payment service provider?”

“Integration with all banks and card companies would be possible, and payments would be possible in a much easier way than now. The easier payments are, the higher the possibility of opening wallets, right?”

“That’s absolutely right. When payment is complicated, even the desire to buy tends to disappear.”

 

While conducting various research for simple payment systems.

Information about payment service providers also began to accumulate.

They had a more stable structure than expected, with high growth potential.

But surprisingly, this system was a completely new field that hadn’t been around for very long.

 

“I’m not sure if I should say this, but honestly, rather than partnering with a payment service provider, I’d like to acquire one.”

“Oh! So you finally found a company you want to acquire. But what made you think that way?”

“Because of excessive commission policies. One of the reasons PayPal was created was to escape from excessive fees. But if we go through a payment service provider, we’ll end up paying excessive commissions anyway.”

 

A simple payment system was important.

But ultimately, all companies and websites had to make a profit.

To do that, they needed to reduce the money given to others, and payment service provider fees felt too wasteful.

 

“PG Company fees are roughly 3-4%, right? Honestly, it is a bit expensive. But I’m not sure if it’s burdensome enough to warrant an acquisition.”

“As Rollbook’s sales increase, the commission burden will also increase proportionally. And besides the fees, there’s one bigger reason why we need to acquire a PG Company. I actually think that’s more important.”

“I’d like to hear what that reason is quickly.”

 

The Branch Manager rested his chin on his hand and asked with interest,

and I brought up for the first time the thoughts I had been keeping to myself.

 

“Information and preemption.”

“An attractive combination. By information, do you mean payment information?”

“We can understand various information like user payment patterns, merchant sales data, payment method preferences, regional payment flows, and more.”

“Why do you think such information is necessary?”

 

It might not be needed right now.

But having confirmed the structures of various websites and companies at COMDEX, I was confident this information would be essential in the future.

 

“The internet commerce market will continue to grow. We need to preempt this information to stay ahead.”

“Having more information can’t hurt. Then, what do you mean by preemption?”

“If we can preempt a PG Company, we can contract not only with Rollbook but also with various websites that will emerge later. That way, we can also secure commission revenue.”

 

The commissions I pay are wasteful.

But conversely, commissions others pay me are most welcome.

 

“There’s no business more profitable than commission business. But will other companies or websites want to partner with us just because we preempt the market?”

“If it’s our unique simple payment system created in connection with PayPal, they’ll definitely flock to us. If using our system alone increases sales, wouldn’t they come even if the commission is higher?”

 

Not all commissions were wasteful.

If it’s a commission you have to pay like taxes, it would feel wasteful.

But commissions paid in exchange for high-quality infrastructure and convenient services were justified costs.

 

“It certainly seems like a good idea. Wait just a moment.”

 

The Branch Manager called the fund side.

Soon after, a fund employee came and left materials related to PG companies.

 

“There aren’t many payment service providers. And most of them are startup companies.”

“The concept of PG companies itself hasn’t been around for very long.”

“Which company should we acquire? Small-scale PG companies seem doable for 1 billion won, decent-sized ones for 5 billion, and the largest ones for over 20 billion won.”

 

This was why conversations with the Branch Manager were enjoyable.

Just by me bringing out a design blueprint, he would immediately show the drive to start construction.

 

“It would be nice to acquire a completed company, but I don’t think that’s absolutely necessary. I think acquiring a medium-sized PG company and growing together would be preferable.”

“Good. Then let’s acquire ‘Enex’.”

“I have one request. I’d like Rollbook to hold some equity shares in the PG company.”

 

This wasn’t something I said out of simple greed.

For Rollbook to grow, a PG company was absolutely necessary, and I needed to hold the ‘leash’ of equity shares.

Only then could Rollbook’s independence be guaranteed, and I could continue to wield control.

 

“What percentage do you want?”

“I’d like to secure PG company equity shares with the 3 billion won received from selling 30% of Rollbook’s equity shares.”

“Even if Enex’s acquisition amount is at its highest, it won’t exceed 6 billion, so you want more than 50%.”

“These are equity shares absolutely necessary for Rollbook’s future.”

 

The Branch Manager fell into thought for a moment.

However, his contemplation wasn’t long, and he soon made a bold decision.

 

“Alright. Actually, I’m more interested in Rollbook’s United States sales than Korea sales. Employee Lee can take all the results from Korea.”

“I was worried you might think I was being too greedy.”

“I actually like it more. To succeed in this industry, you need to be ambitious.”

 

When he said our industry, did he mean the financial industry?

I had never said I would work in finance, but the Branch Manager seemed to already think that way.

 

“Once the PG company acquisition is complete, we can start paid services immediately.”

“I’ll arrange a negotiation meeting within this week. Make sure Employee Lee attends as well. Since you’re the person who created and operates Rollbook, you should naturally be present.”

“I’m not sure if I’ll be helpful, but I’ll definitely attend.”

“It’s fine if you’re not helpful. Just understanding how negotiations work will be sufficient.”

 

The Branch Manager kept trying to take me to negotiation meetings.

MS, PayPal, and now even a PG company.

I didn’t know what his intention was, but I didn’t refuse.

 

Negotiation was an interesting game.

A game of analyzing each other’s cards and gaining the upper hand.

 

“Thank you for giving me this opportunity.”

“The sooner you accumulate this kind of experience, the better. You might be assigned bigger tasks later. Think of this as part of your education too. Now, shall we start the English lessons?”

 

Only then did I realize why I had come here.

Basic English conversation study began, completely opposite to the negotiation-related conversation we had just had.

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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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