Chapter 50:

After the hearty meal, Woosung went to his room. Jang Gwangchul laid down on the bed and Woosung sat on the chair. Woosung started his explanation.

“Let’s start with the algorithm trading. As I told you in the last week’s email, Beta version was a success. Currently, I am running the Alpha version on Nuri Finances’ IDC.” He continued without a pause. “And while I was testing this out, I also worked on MQTT development as much as possible. I still have a few things to work out, but I have a bulk of it done. I can show you the prototype so please arrange a meeting with Hong Soobum.”

Every time Jang Gwangchul moved, the old bed squeaked.

It was a small room. The bed was worn.

“You are making me feel uncomfortable.” Jang Gwangchul said with a pout. Woosung knew what he meant. He sighed and replied.

“Sir, I need more time to get to know you before I start calling you ‘big brother.’ For now, let’s keep this as a business relationship.”

“But you promised!” Jang Gwangchul stood up and looked around the room. It was filled with books. All of them were purchased after Woosung came back from death.

“I can see you studied your butt off. You must have studied hard at school.”

“No. I did after I started working.”

Choi Gichul.

He was the reason why Woosung worked like his life depended on it.

“I guess the real world taught you a thing or two. Now you are free. You should get your own place. You are becoming a burden to your mother.”

“Thank you for your advice, but I can take care of myself.”

“Coconut app is a very important project to me. Algorithm trading system too. You are the main developer for both programs, which means it’s my job to provide for you as best as I can.” It sounded like Jang Gwangchul was offering him to buy a house. “I would love to have you live with me, but you are a young man who probably needs privacy.”

Jang Gwangchul was a VIP everywhere, including Nuri Finances and various banks. Woosung was sure he probably owned many properties.

“That’s ok. I can find my own place by myself.”

“This is something I would really like to do for you.”

“I know you’re rich, but this is not necessary.”

Jang Gwangchul’s eyes sparked.

“Great. Then tell me what you need. You didn’t quit just to work on the algorithm system and MQTT.”

Woosung looked out the window.

Jang Gwangchul was right. His main reason was to prepare for various future events such as the financial crisis and the release of Bitcoin. These were Woosung’s two focuses. There were many other chances as well, but Woosung wasn’t sure if it was possible for him to take advantage of everything.

One was a very high-risk business. It was also going to take a lot of funds. Woosung wasn’t planning to get involved in it, but hearing Jang Gwangchul’s offer, Woosung changed his mind.

“Do you remember Hong Soobum’s seminar on the future of the mobile era? What did you think of it?”

“That it’s going to happen soon, or how iPhone will take over the world?”

“Then have you ever considered getting into manufacturing your own cell phone?”

“W…what?”

“iPhone. It’s a brand-new type of cell phone. It is not just a new thing, but a new field. Are you going to just sit and watch?”

“Manufacturing…Develop our own type of cell phone?”

“Cell phone that will include our revolutionary app Coconut. You can get into both the platform and the hardware. What do you think?”

Jang Gwangchul became speechless.

Manufacturing.

He has never considered it. The cell phone industry was already saturated with companies like Nokia, Motorola, Blackberry, and Daeyang System. The competition was impossible.

Woosung could see what Jang Gwangchul was thinking. He continued.

“For a while, iPhone will be on the top and the rest will be busy trying to catch up. But if I get into it…”

Woosung paused.

“I can make something that can compete against iPhone.”

Jang Gwangchul swallowed.

Woosung explained in more details. He mesmerized Jang Gwangchul in just a few seconds. Woosung was describing the future.

“Daeyang will be releasing a Window Mobile OS based cell phone as a contender against iPhone, but this will fail.”

“Daeyang’s new phone will fail? How can you be so sure?”

“Same reason why I am developing MQTT. Window OS is heavy and drains batteries too quickly. This means the apps will be slow and the customers will not buy it.”

Woosung was from the future. He knew this to be true. In November 2008, Daeyang will release its new smartphone Amor and it will fail miserably.

However, the next phone after Amor, Blue S, will become a huge success.

As Woosung continued, Jang Gwangchul looked at him in fascination. He sat up closer to Woosung.

“You can create something better?”

“In November last year, Google created OHA (Open Handset Alliance) and introduced an OS platform for mobile phones. If we create a phone with this OS included, we can eliminate the problem Daeyang will face with its new phone.”

Woosung paused before continuing.

Manufacturing.

If you failed in this field, you could lose everything. “But we could face other technical problems. Hardware industry requires extensive experience.” Woosung said honestly.

“And it will cost a lot of money.”

“We will need an access to an unlimited funds.”

Even if they created a good product, there was no guarantee it would sell. Woosung knew popular designs from the future, but this was a different time. It was impossible to tell what may happen.

There were so many risks, but it could also be a once in a lifetime opportunity.

A chance to destroy Daeyang.

“I appreciate your honesty.”

“If we decide to go ahead with it, the earliest we could start would be October. It takes a lot of research, and I also need to complete my other projects. So you have some time to think about it.”

Financial crisis was to happen in September. Woosung needed to focus on it for now.

“And what would be my responsibility?”

“You need to find hardware developers or a company that deals with it. We would also need an investor who would be interested in about 30% of our company. For me, I will attend the MS MVP Global Summit in US to network.”

When Woosung answered seriously, Jang Gwangchul became excited. He stood up.

“Manufacturing…We can make our own cell phone for our app.”

“We can start calling the cell phones the smartphones.”

“And what would you want to name this smartphone?”

“Blue S. A friend for you in this lonely world.”

It was the exact slogan Daeyang used to sell its Blue S in Woosung’s previous life. Daeyang spent a lot of money for social experts to come up with it and it became very popular. Jang Gwangchul exhaled eagerly and held Woosung’s hands.

“I don’t know how you come up with these things.”

Woosung smiled coolly and answered. “Please make sure to think carefully. Remember, you can’t tell anyone about it, ok?”

He hugged Woosung.

Dinner time.

Jang Gwangchul visited Hong Soobum. He took his trusted developer to his home.

“You know about Google’s Android, right?”

“It hasn’t been released yet, but it’s coming.”

Hong Soobum repeated what Woosung already told Jang Gwangchul. Jang Gwangchul had many more questions.

“What do you think about it? Do you think it will be a success? Do you think the users with smartphones will like it?”

“There is no way for me to answer that accurately.”

“Then let me ask you this. Would you be interested in making a smartphone with me?”

“What?”

“We can create our own cell phone and include our Coconut app right in it. What do you think? Are you interested?”

Hong Soobum’s face remained stern.

“Not at all.”

After a brief pause, he continued lightning fast. “Creating an app is one thing, but manufacturing is a completely different animal. You need a factory and countless parts. You need to look into companies that make parts for CPU, memory, touch screen, sound, and so on. The work involved will be endless with no guarantee of success.” Hon Soobum continued. “And even if you take care of all that and make a product, the troubleshooting we’ll have to deal with would be a headache. After all that, if we don’t succeed, all the money that went into it will be gone.”

“Everything has risks. High risk investment can provide a chance for high return. We could potentially become a company like Apple.”

“This industry is already so saturated. Remember Nokia, Blackberry, Motorola, and Daeyang?”

“But do you remember what you said at your seminar? iPhone reinvented the concept of phone.” Jang Gwangchul, now excited than ever, continued. “There is no one who can compete against it. It will be the sole ruler of this business for a long time. Perhaps forever. If we don’t go after it, we will be left behind.”

Hong Soobum remained silent. He seemed unconvinced. “We could become their competition.”Hong Soobum shook his head. He didn’t believe it was possible.

Jang Gwangchul continued persistently. “Blue S. A friend for you in this lonely world. Our mutual friend suggested it.”

“…”

After much thinking, Hong Soobum finally answered.

“It’s too big of a risk, and you still want to do it?”

“YES!”

“Alright. I will think about it and look into it.”

“Woosung will be the CEO, so you need to talk to him. He’s on his way here right now.”

Hong Soobum nodded.

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