New Employees With an Annual Salary of 1 Trillion Won - Chapter 60
—————
This chapter was translated by Lunox Team. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
—————
Chapter 60. New Game (5)
The early morning air was so refreshing.
Just being able to commute to work according to routine made my steps feel lighter.
My life in the United States, where I didn’t even have the concept of commuting, was finally over, and I could return to work at Nexpin again.
“Good morning, everyone!”
“Hey! Our Youngest Employee is here for work? How long has it been.”
“I saw you yesterday too, but seeing you in the morning makes me even happier.”
“Now that you’ve become Deputy Branch Manager of Tiger Fund, shouldn’t we be using formal speech with you?”
“Is that so? Oh my, Deputy Branch Manager! Please take good care of us from now on!”
I had missed even these silly jokes.
They were jokes filled with nothing but joy, without any bad feelings whatsoever.
Of course, no matter how much of a joke it was, I had no intention of just taking it lying down.
“You must have been much more comfortable without me, right?”
“Who says that! We missed you so much.”
“I stopped by the Support Team on my way here and heard that everyone left work on time while I was away.”
“Well… we did leave work early, but we worked from home, right? Isn’t that right?”
“That’s right!”
Seeing my colleagues making excuses with trembling voices made me laugh naturally.
I had been looking forward to coming to work because I wanted to see this sight.
If I gave them a pile of work on top of this, the reaction I wanted would definitely burst out.
“I conceived several patents while I was in the United States. I’ve already finished drafting them too.”
“You worked even in the United States? Why did you have to go that far…”
“If it’s a business trip, you should focus on the business trip! You could have done the patents after returning to the company.”
Sure enough, the reaction I wanted burst out.
When I quickly approached my colleagues who were backing away, they gave up and stopped, asking about the patent contents.
“So what kind of patents are they?”
“Do you remember Wi-Fi being commercialized last year?”
“You mean wireless internet. But there’s still no use for it except with laptops, right?”
“Even then, don’t you have to plug in an external card?”
“Since Wi-Fi modules are large, built-in installation is difficult. You have to use external ones.”
Each person brought out the information they knew and chimed in agreement.
I had also been thinking about that point and had already organized a solution.
“Just like we miniaturized HDDs, I believe we can also miniaturize Wi-Fi modules. I’ve organized that into a patent.”
“You want to build it into laptops? Well, that would make using the Internet much more convenient.”
“Starting with laptops, I aimed to equip portable devices like MP3 players and PDAs with Wi-Fi modules as well.”
My colleagues straightened up and examined the patent draft.
And they grasped the direction of the patent I had created.
“A patent for miniaturizing Wi-Fi modules and expanding to MP3 players and PDAs?”
“Not only that, but I also plan to file a patent for equipping mobile phones with Wi-Fi.”
“Would that be possible?”
“It would be difficult right now, but I expect it will be possible soon as technology advances. And my module miniaturization patent should be quite helpful too.”
Wireless Internet had been commercialized for less than a year.
Almost no one was using it, and except for laptops, it was treated as an unnecessary technology.
But Wi-Fi and portable devices were creating perfect harmony.
Though I had created many patents so far, few created as powerful harmony as the built-in Wi-Fi patent.
“What do you plan to do by equipping portable devices with Wi-Fi? Of course, the patent application would work.”
“Especially mobile phones must have it.”
“Why?”
“Communication fees are too expensive!”
The latest mobile phones these days supported up to 16-polyphonic.
Thanks to this, ringtones were selling for hundreds of won each, and downloading a single game could easily cost thousands of won.
“My son also got charged 900 won for a single ringtone.”
“The ringtone price is 500 won, but the communication fee is 400 won. Games can cost thousands of won just like that.”
“So that’s why Wi-Fi is needed?”
“It’s just too expensive. If wireless Internet is available, downloads become possible without worrying about fees.”
Ringtones were just the beginning.
Later, when mobile phones with MP3 functionality become widespread, downloading digital music files will become essential.
But if all of that is processed only through communication networks, how much would the communication fees be?
“If we make it, it will be used someday.”
“The better mobile phone specs become, the more essential this patent becomes. 64-polyphonic mobile phones have been announced for next year, and as color phones become popular, more content like games will emerge.”
“But if we make this patent, telecom companies will really hate it, won’t they?”
“Users will love this patent even more. And manufacturers will ultimately have no choice but to side with users.”
There was no need to consider the telecom company’s circumstances.
We just needed to create the technology and collect licensing fees.
So we had to make patents that users wanted to make money.
“That’s a good direction. We can split this patent into quite a few pieces.”
“We’ll file separate applications for all three: MP3, PDA, and mobile phone.”
“Just the related patents alone should yield dozens. Hey, everyone forget about going home. Starting today, we’re working overtime.”
Installing Wi-Fi in mobile phones.
At first glance, it seemed like a simple idea, but implementing this technology required surprisingly diverse patents.
And this wasn’t the end.
The numerous patents I created during the boring airplane ride.
I had actually concentrated more and created patent drafts better than when I was in the office, and I planned to bring them out one by one once the Wi-Fi patent was completed.
“Could I briefly visit the Rollbook Office?”
“Just go and don’t come back. Don’t come tomorrow either, come around next week.”
“Then, I’ll see you tomorrow.”
“No, I said come next week!”
This is the fun of creating patents.
Using my colleagues’ raised voices as background music, I headed to the Rollbook Office.
“How has everyone been?”
“CEO! We have so many reports to give you.”
“Did some problem arise?”
“It’s not that, it’s a problem because things are going too well. The delivery service has been a complete hit. It’s expanded from Seoul to nationwide. Sales jumped over 20 times in just one month.”
20 times in one month.
It might sound like an exaggeration, but if it had expanded nationwide, it was a perfectly achievable figure.
“The number of users must have increased a lot.”
“Yes, especially gift orders like coffee coupons and cakes have surged. Right now, merchants are lining up to join our platform.”
The employees excitedly spread out the sales reports to show me.
When sales go up, users increase too, and inquiries about joining and advertising naturally pour in.
“The response is much better than expected.”
“There are quite a few people who find phone orders burdensome. I remember when I used to place phone orders, I would write down what to say on paper and read it.”
“Now it’s finished with just one click, so there’s no reason not to use it.”
“The payment system also played a big role. You just register your account and payment is immediate, and you can even exchange points for splitting bills, so it’s especially popular in university districts.”
The unique payment system that only Rollbook provides.
Users who have become accustomed to this convenience will not easily move to other platforms.
“Is there any other news?”
“Ah! And we finally launched a trial run of our internet radio service.”
“It took longer than expected. I thought it would be simple, but it turned out to be quite complex.”
“Since the concept of broadcasting live shows over the internet was completely new, we had to create the related programs from scratch. Without the program you created for us, CEO, we probably wouldn’t have even been able to start yet. But now the system is complete and we can broadcast immediately.”
Internet radio service.
It was new content that Rollbook was attempting.
Currently it was at the level of relaying university broadcasts, but the plan was to create a structure where anyone could do their own broadcasting in the future.
“How was the response to the trial broadcast?”
“There weren’t many live viewers, but thanks to the replay function, the total view count exceeded 100,000.”
“100,000 views? Even if all Korea University students listened, it wouldn’t reach that number.”
“It seems students from other universities, as well as high school students and middle school students dreaming of entering Korea University, also listened.”
It was a trial broadcast that confirmed a user base existed.
Then there was no need to delay any further.
“Let’s enable other universities to start internet broadcasting as well.”
“We’re proceeding with collaborations with broadcasting clubs at each university. By the end of this month at the latest, major universities nationwide will be able to start internet radio broadcasting.”
“And let’s improve the system so anyone can broadcast. That way content will increase too.”
“Will ordinary people be able to broadcast?”
The number of users is proportional to the amount of content.
Therefore, creating a system where anyone could easily broadcast was necessary to produce more diverse content.
“We can’t provide broadcasting equipment, but we can create a platform where people can easily broadcast if they have the equipment.”
“It would be possible if we modify the accessibility.”
“I’ll modify the program. I’ll fix it so that decent sound quality can be achieved even with low-spec equipment.”
Not everything was going smoothly.
While it wasn’t a big problem yet, there was one aspect that would inevitably become problematic as internet radio grew larger.
“I have one concern. Streaming is paid so that’s fine, but what should we do about music played on radio?”
“We’ll need to sign a formal contract with the Copyright Association. It would be good to pay a certain amount annually and have a system that allows free use of music.”
“That would work! People broadcasting on our platform would be free from music copyright issues, so there would be a clear advantage.”
Copyright issues could be resolved with money.
However, since the cure could be worse than the disease, how to structure the contract was key.
“The problem is how much we contract for. In the end, we have to pay copyright fees by receiving a portion of advertising and sponsorship money as commission, but it could actually become a loss-making structure.”
“Still, won’t the Branch Manager handle this well again this time?”
“The Branch Manager has been promoted to general manager this time. So now it might be difficult for him to pay attention to such trivial matters.”
General manager of one of America’s Top 3 Funds.
How much work would there be?
Since he no longer had to focus only on the Korean Branch like before, I now had to take the lead in resolving such matters.
Of course, I could ask for help if things got really difficult.
Why else would he have taken me to various negotiation rooms?
It must be so I could take the initiative in handling such problems.
“And I’m thinking of introducing one more system. This system also has music copyright issues involved.”
“What kind of system is it?”
“A system that goes beyond just streaming on Rollbook, allowing paid downloads so people can listen on MP3 players or PCs.”
“That would be sensitive, wouldn’t it? These days the Copyright Association is reacting very sensitively to illegal music distribution.”
It wasn’t just Korea’s problem.
Worldwide, there was a strong perception that digital music files were ‘free.’
Copyright associations in each country were racking their brains to change that perception.
“To properly resolve copyright issues, we need to create a perfect system.”
“What kind of approach are you thinking of for creating the system?”
“Even now you can listen to music on Rollbook, but it’s inconvenient, right? So we want to create a dedicated client to make playback more convenient.”
“You mean making it possible to listen to music just by running the client, without accessing the website.”
The employees understood quickly.
Various MP3 dedicated clients were already available in the market.
“Creating a client isn’t difficult. I actually made one in the United States. Take a look.”
“It looks quite different from existing MP3 clients.”
“It automatically organizes by album, artist, and genre, and you can freely create playlists too.”
“It would definitely be convenient. Much less work involved.”
It was a user-friendly client.
But that wasn’t the only purpose.
Rather, the client was created not for users but for copyright holders.
“The real core feature is separate. When you download digital music files through this client, they’re automatically encrypted.”
“Ah! To make copying impossible?”
“Exactly. I applied the encryption technology we used in Rollbook’s simple payment system. Playback is only possible when the user authenticates.”
“Isn’t this DRM technology? It’s similar to entering an authentication key when using Microsoft software.”
It was similar but slightly different.
It was a method designed to be user-friendly while taking advantage of portable device characteristics.
“Once you authenticate an MP3 or PC you’re using, playback is only possible on that device, and if you want to use the client on another PC, you have to go through the authentication process again.”
“It’s a bit cumbersome, but this should be enough for users to follow along.”
“Let’s refine this system a bit more and introduce it.”
I also gave the Rollbook office some homework.
It was preparation for the MP3 market, which was gradually gaining more users.
And it could be applied not only to digital music files but also to other content.
This system could later be expanded to video content like movies and dramas.
If the gear structure of simple radio or digital music files was 1.
The moment it moved to video content, the gear structure could become more than 1,000 times larger.
Annual Salary 1 Trillion New Employee Chapter 60
E-book Publication Date | 2025.11.27
Author | Seo Oh
Publishers | Heo Heung-beom, Park Geon-won
Publishing House | Poten
Address | [04783] 10th Floor, 8 Yeonmujang 11-gil, Seongdong-gu, Seoul
Phone | 02-6320-8500
Fax | 02-6320-8585
ISBN | 9791175305892
Price | 100 won
ⓒ Seo Oh 2025
This e-book is a copyrighted work protected by copyright law.
This e-book is published under the author’s contract, so unauthorized reproduction, duplication, distribution, and sharing are prohibited without written consent from both parties.
—————
This chapter was translated by Lunox Team. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
—————
YOU MAY ALSO LIKE
