With the Time Shop, I Too Am the Greatest Conglomerate of All Time

Episode 37. Age World.(2)

The door to the ICCLUB club room opens.

I could see the face of a man in his mid-30s, with his hair neatly combed.

“Who are you?”

“hello. My name is Jaewoon Kang from Damoyeo.”

“Everyone? Are you sure you’re talking to all the online shopping malls?”

After all, this is an e-commerce research club.

He seemed to be familiar with my shopping mall.

“yes. That’s right, everyone.”

A man pulled me away with a smile of joy.

“haha. Come in. Still, I really wanted to meet the people who work there, and this is how I got to meet them.”

He sat me down at the table and poured me a cup of coffee in a paper cup.

“What. I would like to give you a drink if you have one, but everyone likes to eat, so there are no leftovers. haha.”

The man spoke.

“There are a lot of things I want to ask you, but this should be the first thing, right? What did you come here for?”

“At first, I went to visit Mr. Lee Woong-gi and Mr. Kang Hyeong-jun.”

“uh? I’m Woonggi Lee. Did you come to see me?”

That’s good.

“okay? I’m lucky. fufu. I came here thinking about waiting, but you should be there.”

“yes. I have some work to do in the club room. But why did you come to see me from Damoye?”

“I heard that you are doing interesting projects these days.”

“Is it fun?”

“yes. I heard you’re developing a social networking site, isn’t it?”

Lee Woong-gi made a surprised expression.

“How do you know that? It hasn’t been officially opened yet.”

“Our Damoye has grown up to this point through the IT technology of online shopping. Of course, I am very interested in IT technology. So, not only here at KAIST, but also at other universities, we are always listening to the trends of startup clubs. That’s how I learned about ICCLUB.”

Maybe it was because he often made excuses, so now the words just came out.

“..that’s great. Usually companies don’t even meet students when they have to visit them, but Damoye even comes to visit them on their own.”

“Fufu. I don’t do stupid things like waiting from below for the ripening fruit to fall. What if someone gets caught in the middle? When you see a fruit that looks delicious, you have to pick it right away.”

“Does that mean you like the work we are doing?”

“yes. It makes me want to invest.”

“Ah, is the purpose of coming here today to make an investment proposal for our items?”

“you’re right.”

Lee Woong-gi answered with a puzzled face.

“Um, thank you, but can you delay the investment story? I don’t know if there will be investors this quickly, so I haven’t even talked to the club members at all.”

Guess I came too soon.

It was a pity that we couldn’t talk right away.

Because today is not the only day.

I left my business card with him and turned around.

“This is my business card. If you can talk to the members, please contact me again.”

Woonggi Lee looked at my business card and exclaimed.

“Oh, you are the director. You look so young, so I thought you were just an employee.”

“You can’t leave the investment story to your employees. Then we will go.”

“yes. Take a look.”

three days later.

I got a call from Woonggi Lee.

“hello. This is Woonggi Lee, whom I met before at KAIST.”

“yes. hello. Have you talked to the members for a while?”

“..the investment proposal you made before must be rejected.”

What is this?

No specific details have been given yet, but it is a rejection.

“You haven’t talked to me properly about investment yet, but you’re refusing. It’s a little disconcerting.”

“..I’m sorry.”

“Doctor Lee Woong-gi understands. But I want to know why he refuses.”

After a few seconds of silence, Lee Woong-gi’s voice came out through the receiver.

“Actually, I wanted to talk with you a little more. But one of the members strongly opposed it.”

“It seems that a member in an important position was against it.”

“yes. He is an indispensable member of the team who came up with ideas.”

come up with ideas jointly.

Maybe Kang Hyung-jun was against it?

If I could bring all the ICCLUB members into my arms, that would be the best.

It doesn’t have to be.

I have the knowledge of how Nyworld succeeded.

If one Kang Hyung-jun is missing and a problem arises.

That part was something I had to supplement with my knowledge.

I’d like to hear some more stories first.

“Why did he object?”

“…it was his opinion that the capital of large corporations should never be taken.”

I was speechless for a moment, unable to speak for a moment.

it’s a big company

Are we all together?

“..it seems that he misunderstood something. Are you a big company? We, Damoye, are continuing to grow, but there is still a big difference from large corporations.”

“Ah, from our point of view, I meant that Damoye is like a large corporation. And I know that Damoyeo occupies more than 80% of domestic online shopping malls, and if you think about it roughly, it will generate more than 10 billion won in monthly sales. It’s not at the level of a typical small business.”

That’s not wrong.

From two months ago, books and albums were also put on the sales list to maintain market share.

Sales of products continued to grow.

Thanks to the supply of computers to the chain PC rooms, the monthly sales of the shopping mall have already exceeded 15 billion won.

If you add up the sales of the PC room business, the monthly sales are close to 20 billion won.

When did I grow up like this?

I’m happy.

But I can’t get out of here.

“It seems like we have a lot of regrets for each other to end it like this. Can I meet some members who are against that? Let’s talk about it once and if you still say no, I’ll give up cleanly.”

To be precise, he meant that only Kang Hyung-jun would give up.

Lee Woong-gi accepted my proposal as if he had any regrets.

“..All right. Then we will set up a place for you.”

Two days later, I got a call from Lee Woong-gi again.

“Mr. Kang. Do you have time this evening?”

“Let’s see. After 7 o’clock it’s fine.”

“Then shall we see you around 8 o’clock today? The member I mentioned at that time will also be present.”

That evening, the meeting place, a pub near the KAIST Seoul Campus.

Lee Woong-gi, who was standing in front of the entrance, looked at me and waved his hand.

“Director. This is it.”

Follow him into the hop house.

A man in his early thirties who was sitting there caught my eye.

It was a reluctant look though.

He also greeted me.

“..hello.”

Whoops. I don’t like this?

I smiled and sat down.

“I think you are a little reticent.”

Lee Woong-gi, seeing this, exhorted the man.

“Hyungjun. You agreed to listen to the story once.”

The man reluctantly opened his mouth to me.

“This is Hyeongjun Kang. Woonggi hyung asked me to come out, but what do you have to say?”

“I heard that you are preparing a good business. I just want to tell you that I want to be of some help in that business.”

“..I want to help. Isn’t our stake the purpose?”

Aha. That’s why you said you rejected my offer.

Then there’s a way to convince me.

“You seem to think that I am trying to take the founders’ shares with the use of investment, but let me clear up the misunderstanding. I understand that the basic framework of the site ICCLUB is making is a system that allows people with common academic backgrounds and delays to meet each other online. Is that right?”

Hyungjun Kang nodded his head slightly.

I was talking.

“The idea was really novel. The moment I heard it, it felt so good that I felt like I wanted to make an investment. This is an angel investment in that pure sense, which will help you and I’ll be happy later if this business goes well. I want to tell you that if I was really going to take your stake, I wouldn’t have had to have a meeting like this.”

Kang Hyung-jun tilted his head.

“..what does that mean? How are you going to take our stake if we don’t hand over the stake?”

“It’s simple. In Damoye, there is one subsidiary specializing in software called Hongindemere. If you put your mind to it, you can create and market a site with those concepts much faster than you can. So what will happen?”

It was kind of bluffing.

It wasn’t something they could just ignore.

If I were to market a networking site first.

Even if ICCLUB later releases a better site than me.

As a latecomer, there were a lot of disadvantages and there was a high possibility that I would eventually be pushed back.

If that happens, all their stakes will be scraps of tissue paper.

It would be as if I had taken all their shares.

Of course, if you exclude them all and make your own site.

There was no guarantee that the correct result would be produced, so I had no intention of doing so.

Kang Hyeong-jun and Lee Woong-gi were both in shock, so they couldn’t open their mouths for a while.

Has it been about a minute?

Kang Hyung-jun said with a troubled expression on his face.

“..is that a threat?”

“I was just stating the facts. I didn’t mean to do that. Even if you decline my offer, I have no intention of doing that.”

Hyungjun Kang looked straight into my eyes for the first time and asked.

“..don’t mean to do that. Can I really trust you?”

“..Then, I would like to hear specific suggestions regarding investment.”

Now you are ready to hear my story properly.

“I have three proposals. I hope you like any of these. The first suggestion is that if you hand over all the results you’ve made so far, I’ll give you 1 billion won.”

Lee Woong-gi asked with a shaky face.

“Are you going to pass them all?”

“It is not forced. I don’t know how much money it will cost in the future, and I’m telling you that I’ll pay 1 billion won to buy a business item that can fail in the end no matter how much money I put into it. If you accept this offer, you will earn a billion dollars without any risk.”

Of course, it was a suggestion because I knew it would be successful.

This time, Hyungjun Kang asked.

“What is the second offer?”

“We will invest 2 billion won in return for a 40% stake.”

These services only cost money without revenue until there are enough users.

So, at the beginning of the business, a certain amount of investment was absolutely necessary.

Instead of paying the initial investment, I asked for a 40% stake.

“If your investment seems too small, you can look into it for a few more days. If there is a place that offers better conditions than us, we will match that level.”

“…listen to the third offer.”

“The third hand over the business item for 1 billion, please come to us and continue to lead this item. I’ll give you 1 million as a salary. And if this business turns into a black one, we will also give major developers a 2% stake as a stock option.”

At my words, the two fell in thought.

At that time, there were not many people who made 100 million won as an annual salary.

For a lump sum of 1 billion, you can receive 100 million each year.

If you turn to the black, you can even get a stake, so it was a generous condition in exchange for handing over a business that had not been done properly yet.

Hyungjun Kang opened his mouth.

“I will discuss it with the members and contact you again.”

And the next day, I got a call.