The 3th Generation of the Chaebol Wants to Live Quietly - Chapter 238
Only Noblemtl
#238.
“…All right.”
Director Jang Seung-il stood up obediently. It was natural for Choi Min-hyeok to seek KM Industries’ shares. Chairman Choi Yong-wook had been cool-headed on this issue until now, but now he couldn’t be.
If it had been someone else, a 5% stake in KM Industries would not have been much, but if it had been Director Choi Min-hyeok, it could have had symbolic meaning.
In a situation where Vice Chairman Choi Moon-kyung’s management ability is being questioned within the KM Group, it would be even more so if Choi Min-hyeok were to acquire shares.
This is because it means that Choi Min-hyeok is now joining the KM Group’s management battle without hiding anything.
‘It might be a good thing. But will Vice Chairman Choi Moon-kyung just sit still?’
Manager Kim Myeong-jun quietly opened his mouth after even Deputy Manager Jo Seong-don left his seat.
“The vice president won’t just sit there.”
“I know. But on the other hand, this is a good opportunity. Even my grandfather and my eldest uncle will have to grow apart because of this incident. A 5% stake will only make the gap worse. If that one thing goes as intended, this will be a success.”
“… … .”
Manager Kim Myeong-jun stuck out his tongue and did not open his mouth any further. He had been quietly observing Choi Min-hyeok’s actions recently, so he felt something strange about Choi Min-hyeok’s actions.
I had no idea that they would use the Oculus Project to drive a wedge between the two.
Minhyuk Choi called Manager Sanghyun Oh to do some preliminary work to promote the MP3.
[I’m Choi Min-hyeok. Yes, how’s the work I was supposed to do? You’ve already finished implementing it? When can I see it? Then I’ll report to the director’s office the day after tomorrow.]
* * *
Chairman Choi Yong-wook was not as angry as before when Choi Min-hyeok proposed to request shares in KM Industries through Director Jang Seung-il. He only informed Director Jang Seung-il that he would review it internally.
Instead, he made a request to make sure to attend the memorial service next month.
‘Why the sudden rite?’
Chairman Kim Sang-goo, who noticed that Chairman Choi Yong-wook was moving around busily, was not as passive as before. He frequently visited the KM Group headquarters and talked directly with Chairman Choi Yong-wook.
The investment scale was also significantly increased from hundreds of billions to trillions.
However, Chairman Choi Yong-wook, who was hit by Choi Min-hyeok, only repeated that the group’s policy office was still reviewing it.
As DL Group took the lead, other companies also actively joined in the satellite broadcasting business.
The situation at Oh Sung Electronics became complicated when Ahn Jae-woon became fully involved in this dispute.
Ahn Jae-woon tried to stand out in the business planning department by using this Oculus project. Chairman Ahn Geon-min did not strongly oppose this either.
This is because the Oculus project is a business in which Osung Electronics has already invested hundreds of billions of won.
As a result, if Ahn Jae-woon achieves good results, everything that has happened so far can be attributed to Ahn Jae-woon.
It is possible to launch Ahn Jae-woon while achieving success in the digital satellite business.
This was a direction that even the Oseong Electronics Restructuring Headquarters had never thought of.
Director Lee Chang-myeong also stepped back, leaving Senior Vice President Kim Hyeon-woo in the lead, in an attempt to avoid responsibility for the Oculus project.
When he saw that Chairman Ahn Geon-min had personally given verbal instructions, he retreated to a corner.
Thanks to this, Planning Director Kwon Tae-seong was caught up in the fight and just watched. He first pushed Ahn Jae-woon, who was on the other side of Lee Chang-myeong, and stood in that line.
He did it because he had no other viable alternative.
KM Group, DL Group, ETRI, and Oseong Electronics fought fiercely against each other due to internal conflicts and kept each other in check.
These confrontations were not going to end easily because the conflict was so deep that it was instigated by Choi Min-hyeok.
There will likely be sharp conflict even after the joint venture is established.
This is a real mud fight.
Satisfied with the drawing he had made, Choi Min-hyeok now began planning to promote MP3 products. Unlike Collins, who was planning to sell the business to Oseong Electronics, the MP3 business was something he was going to eat.
I had no intention of doing it half-heartedly like I did with Collins.
‘You can’t create an issue with just MP3 products. It takes a few more years.’
In fact, when MP3 first came out in his first life, no one had much fun. The small and medium-sized Korean companies that first developed it made some profit, but that was it.
Even Korean small and medium-sized enterprises have taken advantage of this and driven the original patent copyright holder, Digital Caster, to the brink.
The companies that actually benefited from MP3s were the ones that grabbed the MP3 player patents after they were torn to pieces.
No, in the end, it was Apple that got involved in this last-minute MP3 patent battle and had the most fun.
Choi Min-hyeok also had no intention of changing this grand scenario. He planned to take only a portion of the profits and make up the rest by selling patent royalties.
But at this point, things weren’t going as well as they had in the first life, so some work was needed.
He thought he could usher in the MP3 era with his own power.
“Is this okay?”
“Yes. Just type the name of the audio file you want into the box. It will search and display the list of files uploaded to the temporary server.”
“Just a moment.”
Minhyuk Choi checked by putting in his favorite song, ‘Proposal Song’. The audio file and information about the singer came up right away. It was a pretty satisfactory result.
If there was one thing I regret, it was the external interface, but that wasn’t important.
This is because it was the first in the world to implement the P2P method that would come out several years later.
“Excellent.”
Manager Oh Sang-hyun was the one who did the work, but he didn’t understand English, so he looked at Choi Min-hyeok’s expression. He couldn’t understand why he was asked to create such a program.
It is a P2P (Peer to Pear) two-way file transfer system for computers. It can easily transfer files between computers by applying a central temporary server list.
Because of the slow internet environment, it doesn’t have much of a strength, but since it’s transferred as a very small file, it’s not so bad that it can’t be used.
“Where do you plan on using this? Team Leader Choi Byeong-yeon also asked, but I just said it was the director’s instructions. I think there will be some talk… … .”
“Don’t worry. I’ll take care of it. The important thing is that no one else knows. Is there anyone else who knows besides Team Leader Choi Byeong-yeon?”
“There is a Hong manager who did the coding below. However, he is also a tight-lipped guy, so he won’t say anything. Since the director emphasizes security so much, I mostly worked at home. Team leader Choi Byeong-yeon also only came to my house briefly for a company dinner.”
Only then did Choi Min-hyeok speak with a satisfied smile. No matter how simple the structure of P2P is, it could not have been implemented this easily.
‘As expected, Manager Oh’s skills are no joke. Why did Oh Sung Electronics abandon such an expert? I guess it’s because of internal conflicts between teams, but he’s really stupid.’
To be exact, even within Oseong Electronics, they knew about Manager Oh Sang-hyun’s abilities. That’s why they managed him separately. They never imagined that Choi Min-hyeok would steal Manager Oh Sang-hyun away.
“As you probably know, this involves exchanging files between personal computers. Therefore, there is a problem that it encourages illegal sharing. It is not good for the company’s image.”
“I was already a bit worried, will you be okay?”
“Well, if we officially service this program, copyright holders in Korea and overseas will probably rise up. But if we don’t do it, it doesn’t matter.”
“No, then why are you telling me to develop this kind of program… … .”
“But other people think differently. Especially if they are amateurs who are just exchanging files. For example, high school or college students.”
“Aha, so what you want is for those who are friends to share files with each other so that MP3 audio files can become more popular.”
“Bingo. But there’s a problem here. If people find out that we developed this program, it’ll be a problem.”
“but.”
Manager Oh Sang-hyun also admitted it readily. Recently, there has been a lot of noise about the issue of Director Choi Min-hyeok’s stock donation. There were quite a few articles in the media specializing in gossip that were deliberately criticizing Choi Min-hyeok.
“… Then how are you going to use this program?”
“We’re releasing it publicly. We’re releasing it secretly to the public. We’re releasing the files to amateur professionals in particular. I think if there are any of them who are even a little bit thoughtful, they’ll make great use of this P2P program.”
“Hmm.”
Manager Oh Sang-hyun, who was frowning deeply, didn’t look very pleased. However, the person who came up with this P2P framework and blueprint was Choi Min-hyeok.
It was just a simple implementation based on what he did.
“… That’s too bad.”
“No. Mr. Oh, you won’t regret it in a few years when you find out why it has to be this way.”
“hmm.”
He had no choice but to get up from his seat while keeping an eye on Director Choi Min-hyeok. Of course, he received another list and a thick bag that Choi Min-hyeok had written down.
“What is this?”
“There’s cash in the bag. The list is where you should spread the P2P source. If possible, it should be prestigious American universities or high schools. Ask someone you know to do the work for you. I think those who find this will be very happy. Oh, and if you need more help, ask Jeong Seong-geun, the deputy manager of the planning team.”
“…All right.”
Manager Oh Sang-hyun also knew that Choi Min-hyeok did not want this to be known to the outside world. Since it was not particularly illegal, he did not pay much attention to it.
Minhyuk Choi looked at the back of Manager Sanghyun Oh, who was biting his lip with regret, with a bright smile on his face.
But the person he soon remembered was the person who first developed this sharing program in the world.
‘Sean Penning.’
While Lee Ji-soo was teaching Choi Min-hyeok, she talked about the very first business, and also taught him about the profile of the developer of this shared program and how the business is conducted.
Fortunately, Choi Min-hyeok knew well how this P2P worked. He just decided on the main plot and direction and gave instructions to Manager Oh Sang-hyeon.
Minhyuk Choi had already felt a lot when he saw that the stock price of Dacom had returned to the first stock price he knew in his life after he had shaken it.
Although the future was somewhat altered due to his own interference, it found its original course again.
The question of what would happen if Sean Penning gained knowledge of the future was quite an interesting one.
‘I expected the results to come out quickly since his skills are so great, but he’s really great. By the way, what will happen if Sean gets his hands on that source now? Will the MP3 era come sooner?’
That’s what he wanted.
But it didn’t matter if I failed.
Because you can find another alternative.
‘I’d like the future to go according to my plans. If that happens, I can have fun with just my MP3 player for about 3-4 years.’
* * *
Sean Penning is a typical high school student who likes baseball, basketball, and tennis. He was mainly into sports, but his hobbies changed after he got a computer from his uncle.
I became an internet fanatic.
Sean Penning was particularly fond of music, but like a high school student, he was more interested in free music than buying albums. MP3 music files were something he couldn’t help but like.
He found the music files his friends needed on the Internet and shared them with them. Thanks to that, he realized that there was a severe lack of content on music sites.
A normal person would have just thought about this inconvenience.
But Sean Penning wondered if there might be an alternative.
What is unfortunate is that he was unable to find a breakthrough with his programming skills.
The idea came to me, but I felt limited.
This is what made Sean Penning consider Northeastern University’s computer science department.
But I found a link to some interesting material on the school bulletin board.
It’s a program for file sharing, and its source code is completely open.
Sean Penning went to a site linked to on the school bulletin board, downloaded the file in question and looked at it.
‘Hey, what is this?!’
I was surprised.
It was a program that was designed exactly according to the idea he had conceived.
Sean Penning dived right into analyzing the program’s source code, finding both surprising and, on the one hand, deficiencies in the more advanced program code.
This is an inconvenience caused by a slow Internet environment.