New Employees With an Annual Salary of 1 Trillion Won - Chapter 7

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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 7. Why Does It Work? (2)

 

 

 

Private equity funds were organizations that chased money.

Of course, all companies pursue profit, but private equity funds judged everything based on numbers alone.

 

“Branch Manager, isn’t this excessive compensation? They already receive salaries, but the incentives seem too much.”

“Are you talking about the Product Development Department?”

“That’s right. All employees received performance bonuses that exceeded their annual salaries.”

 

Deputy Branch Manager Song Sang-yeon said while looking at the ledger.

Concerned about excessive spending, he wanted to lower the patent compensation amount somehow.

 

“We already earned revenue from patent sales. All the compensation we’ve given so far came from patent sales revenue, so no money actually came out of our own pockets.”

“That’s true, but isn’t our actual purpose the building, not the Product Development Department? The Product Development Department was just a burden attached to the building.”

 

Tiger Fund’s purpose was the building.

GL Group had undergone massive department consolidation after the IMF crisis, and surplus buildings emerged due to department mergers and restructuring.

 

Tiger Fund had simply purchased that building.

The problem was that one department remained alone in the surplus building.

So they acquired the department and planned to sell it at a reasonable price.

 

“Who would have known there was a jewel inside that burden? Since there’s a jewel more valuable than the building itself, our priorities should naturally change.”

“Do you really think so?”

“Employee Lee Jung-hoo especially is a definite rough diamond. So why would we need to skimp on money for polishing?”

“Still, it’s too excessive. Even we don’t receive performance bonuses exceeding 20%, no matter how good our results are.”

 

Tiger Fund had performance bonuses fixed at 20%.

Whether they achieved 100% profit or 500% performance, the performance bonus was always 20% of the revenue.

 

“We operate private equity fund capital to generate profits, but they’re creating something from nothing. So they should receive more compensation. And the shares we acquired for ten million won will multiply several times within a few years.”

“Are the patents they created really that valuable?”

“Initially, we weren’t selling the patent to Samjin Electronics. As time passed, other places offered more money.”

 

A new revenue structure.

Instead of buying and selling buildings or companies, they buy and sell technology.

Branch Manager Kang Dong-ju thought this method, which didn’t exist at Tiger Fund, could further elevate his position.

 

So the money wasn’t regrettable at all.

And several companies hoping to acquire the Product Development Department had already emerged, offering amounts several times higher than when they first acquired it from GL Group.

 

“Don’t be so obsessed with small change. Considering our fund size, a few billion won in compensation isn’t even big money. Just wait and see. Thanks to the Product Development Department, our performance will reach headquarters’ ears.”

“I’ll trust you, Branch Manager.”

 

Deputy Branch Manager Song Sang-yeon had no choice but to follow.

Branch Manager Kang Dong-ju had created tremendous results from headquarters.

Though he was demoted to Korea due to factional struggles, he believed he would rise to a higher position within a few years.

That’s why he had followed the Korea assignment, which was tantamount to demotion, without complaint.

 

***

 

Typical large corporations were a series of meetings.

Even when I belonged to GL Group, there were weekly meetings, monthly meetings, quarterly meetings, and if you added all the minor meetings, more than half of the work time had to be used just for meetings or meeting preparations.

 

And all meeting preparations were my responsibility.

Printing according to the number of people, setting up without even a 1cm error.

The satisfaction I felt when meticulously adjusting even the beam projector’s angle used to make me happy.

 

But not now.

There wasn’t really anything to call a meeting, and if we needed information, we could just meet and talk.

When the regularly repeated meetings disappeared, it was somewhat uncomfortable.

 

But meetings weren’t completely absent.

All department members gathered in the conference room only when the Department Manager wanted it.

 

“How are you all still alive? Let’s see each other’s faces more often. We live together in this small office, so why is it so hard to see each other?”

“Isn’t it because we have too much work? Honestly, I don’t even have time to smoke these days, so I’m chewing nicotine gum.”

“I’ve never gone out for lunch either.”

 

Lunch boxes and instant noodles piled up throughout the office.

Even though no one ordered it, everyone solved their meals inside the office.

I tried several times to clean up the trash piles, but the department members stopped me, saying they would clean up themselves.

 

“Who told you to do that? Weren’t you all doing it because you liked it?”

“Well, that’s true. Time is money, after all.”

“You did the same when you belonged to GL. Oh, Section Chief, you used to spend 30 minutes in the bathroom right after arriving at work, but I haven’t seen you go to the bathroom lately?”

“Back then, I got paid just for killing time, didn’t I?”

 

The department members’ reactions sent chills through my entire body.

Just watching them try to move like gears, each taking on roles to complete the patent drafts I created, gave me strong satisfaction.

 

This is the power of money.

Since they received bonuses larger than their annual salaries, it was hard to find anyone slacking off.

There were no cases of passing work to others, and the department members moved as if they were desperate to work.

For this perfect structure to be maintained, continuous bonus injections were necessary, which is why I kept churning out patent drafts without rest.

 

“When else would we make this kind of money? So we have to work even harder. And today, two more patent registrations were completed, so money came down!”

“Woooow! Are we getting bonuses again?”

“Of course. Everyone applaud!”

 

Clap clap clap!

All the department members applauded, but I stopped my hands and fell into thought.

Patent registration was already finished.

Bluetooth patent registration should have needed at least 2-3 more weeks.

 

Had the Branch Manager’s lobbying power increased?

Even so, it was a realistically impossible timeframe.

 

“This newly registered patent is for mobile phone battery automatic power cutoff technology. The Development Team worked really hard on it.”

“I’ve never developed such a patent.”

“We weren’t just sitting around doing nothing either!”

“The youngest employee is churning out patents, so we had to create something too!”

 

This was completely new information to me.

The department members had created and registered a patent without my knowledge.

 

“Employee Lee should get a taste of some free money too. You know how sweet this is.”

“I didn’t provide any help with this patent.”

“The youngest employee talks too much. Just say thank you and accept it when it’s given.”

“This time we specially prepared it in cash. You’re not going to take it as shares, are you?”

“I’ll gratefully accept whatever you give me.”

“What would you do with a 1.5% stake? Cash is the best.”

 

A hefty cash bundle.

The Department Manager placed the cash in my hands without even putting it in an envelope.

 

“The fund evaluated this newly registered patent at 200 million won. So Employee Lee’s share is 6 million won. How about it? It feels different from just seeing numbers in your bank account, right?”

“But I really don’t know if I should accept this.”

“Then what about everything we’ve received so far? Should we cough it all back up?”

“No! Thank you.”

 

The Department Manager forcibly stuffed the cash into my pocket.

I bowed my head deeply and expressed my gratitude once again.

 

“How about we have a company dinner for the first time in ages today? Is everyone free?”

“Even if we’re not free, we should make time, shouldn’t we? We haven’t had a single company dinner since leaving GL Group.”

“It was hard to have company dinners without a corporate card. But now everyone’s pockets are full, so we don’t need to worry about dinner expenses, right?”

 

A sudden company dinner?

This wasn’t part of my routine.

But for boosting the department members’ morale, I could add a company dinner to my routine.

If I was going to add company dinners to my routine anyway, it would be better to show a more proactive attitude.

 

“I’ll pay for it!”

 

I said while holding up the cash bundle.

Immediately, the department members launched their fierce counterattack.

 

“Where does the youngest employee get off saying he’ll pay for the company dinner!”

“Even if you earned not 2 billion but 20 billion, you’d never pay for a company dinner. Where does the youngest employee get off!”

“Let’s have beef today! The Practical Affairs Team will pay!”

“Hey! Our Development Team got listed as patent applicants this time, so naturally the Development Team should pay!”

 

Everyone was so happy they were competing to spend money.

If this atmosphere continued, our department seemed like it would last for a long time.

 

But there was one disappointing aspect.

The fact that department members created patents on their own meant they had spare time.

I had been adjusting the pace of patent drafts thinking the department members might be struggling, but now I realized there was no need for that.

 

***

 

Just 5%.

That was the percentage of people who reached the position of department manager in large corporations.

Especially after the IMF crisis, the promotion rate to department manager became even lower, so reaching department manager at a large corporation meant having decent abilities.

 

Department Manager Cha Ik-hyeon was such a person.

Someone with outstanding abilities but slightly lacking in political skills.

Professor Park Gwang-il from Korea University knew Department Manager Cha Ik-hyeon’s abilities well, so he had asked him to return to school several times.

 

“How long are you going to stay at the company? I heard your department was even sold to a private equity fund, so why don’t you come back to school now?”

“Becoming a professor isn’t easy, is it?”

“If you just work as an adjunct professor for exactly 3 years, you can be appointed as a full professor, you know? Wouldn’t a stable school be better than an unstable company life?”

 

Department Manager Cha Ik-hyeon just smiled at his old friend’s words.

Why would I go back to school? I’m finally having fun after joining the company.

Just looking at money alone, he was earning dozens of times more, so there was absolutely no reason to go to school.

 

“It’s not bad right now. More importantly, how’s our youngest employee? Is he learning well?”

“Wow! I’ve taught over thousands of students so far, but that kind of student is a first for me.”

“What do you mean? Is he not studying hard? It must be so difficult to study while doing company work too. Cut him some slack.”

“That’s not it – his will to study is amazing. It’s not just that he learns ten things when taught one, but he comes back having grasped even quadratic equations.”

 

Professor Park Gwang-il poured out praise.

Department Manager Cha Ik-hyeon took his friend’s reaction as a joke.

 

“Are you buttering me up because of how much education fee the company pays? Don’t worry, I’ll transfer the education fee properly.”

“That’s not it, I tell you. I gave him one specialized textbook a week ago. But he came back having mastered the entire specialized textbook in less than a week!”

“Wasn’t it a basic textbook rather than a specialized one?”

“C Language is all basics and all specialized! Even Korea University students barely know this stuff after studying until the first semester of sophomore year, but he mastered it all in less than a week.”

 

Only now did Department Manager Cha Ik-hyeon realize from his friend’s passionate explanation that this wasn’t a joke.

 

“Really to that extent? Is Employee Lee some kind of genius?”

“It’s a bit much to call him a genius with superior intelligence, but how should I put it? He’s definitely different from ordinary people. Should I say he has excellent optimization ability? He has an exceptional ability to instinctively find wrong parts and correct them.”

“It must be fun to teach him?”

 

A smile naturally formed knowing that the employee under him was outstanding.

But his friend was making plans that exceeded his imagination.

 

“He’s 20 years old now, right? With company experience, wouldn’t it be possible to get him admitted through special admission somehow?”

“You want to accept him as a student?”

“I want to teach him properly. If undergraduate admission is difficult, he could do undergraduate studies anywhere and then I could pull him up as a graduate student.”

“Why are you trying to turn someone who’s doing fine in company life into a student? You know very well how hard it is to find employment these days.”

 

Despite Department Manager Cha Ik-hyeon’s dissuasion, Professor Park Gwang-il didn’t stop.

 

“He’s the youngest employee anyway, right? If I teach him properly, he’ll become quite a useful talent.”

“He’s already doing well, so don’t be greedy. If you keep this up, we might outsource the training to somewhere else.”

“I’m saying this because it’s such a waste. If we offered him a scholarship, wouldn’t he come to the university? If he just studied at school for 10 years, he could earn several times his current annual salary.”

“Is there even a company in the world that would pay that kind of salary?”

“Large corporation salaries are all pretty much the same anyway. What’s the difference?”

 

Department Manager Cha Ik-hyeon just smiled.

He didn’t bother mentioning that Employee Lee Jung-hoo had already received a bonus exceeding 2 billion won.

 

But he’s really that outstanding?

If he does well, we might even get software patents, not just hardware ones.

I can’t send an employee like that to university. I absolutely have to hold onto him tight.

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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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