An Unexpected Love Call
Our story had taken shape in precise, concrete terms from the very beginning.
“First, let’s put in a mandatory employment period so I don’t run the moment I graduate from graduate school. You’d be going overboard if you bent over backward for me and then I just took off.”
“Understood. How long?”
“What’s the usual length people set?”
As soon as I looked at the laptop screen, Badugi laid out a whole string of cases and turned them into speech bubbles.
Whenever this happened, it was obvious there was no all-purpose AI better than Badugi.
“There are too many different cases, but it seems to vary a lot depending on whether the company pays tuition. It also changes depending on whether graduate school is full-time or part-time.”
“Really? Send me the cases.”
“Hold on.”
Thanks to Badugi gathering several examples and the legal details all at once, Yeonghun Choi and I were able to keep the discussion moving smoothly.
“Honestly, I’ve always wanted to go to graduate school for my own sake too. I don’t think you need to cover my tuition.”
And, thankfully, Yeonghun Choi said exactly what I had wanted to hear before I could even bring it up.
“From the company’s point of view right now, I think it makes sense to spend the budget on developing executives. This is the kind of support companies usually give anyway.”
“Is that so?”
“Yeah. Even if it’s only half, I’d be grateful.”
“Half? Thanks. In return, I’ll put together a summary of what kind of growth I can bring in business terms.”
“You don’t need to do that right away. Get some experience in the lab first, then write it properly.”
“Yeah. Okay.”
Yeonghun Choi was a student who had already met the requirements for early graduation.
He had lived from freshman year onward by cramming in the maximum number of credits, so there was barely anything left for him to take.
That made it all the easier for him to explain his goals in a solid, realistic way.
“I’ll be busy with lab work during the semester too, but I won’t have many classes to take. I’ll choose the easiest ones I can.”
“Right. If you graduate early, next year’s second half should be a little freer, then?”
“For my senior second semester, I’m planning to research on my own and write a paper using our company’s product. With a little help from the professor, that should work.”
In practice, Yeonghun Choi’s lab support and graduate school admission were already settled.
Another twenty minutes or so went by just hearing the concrete plan he had built for that path.
“Is that good enough?”
“The expected return on investment was delivered to my satisfaction.”
“Well. Thank you, CEO.”
Now our company would keep carrying doctoral-level talent so long as the company itself didn’t collapse into ruin.
For the sake of the choice Yeonghun Choi had made, I had to turn TA Medical into a company he wouldn’t be embarrassed to be part of.
“Let’s do our best. You’ll contact the professor yourself, right?”
“Yeah. I’ll handle it.”
◇◇◇◆◇◇◇
Of course Yeonghun Choi was able to enter Professor Junhak Hwang’s lab.
He had already been studying Professor Hwang’s papers from the beginning, so it would have been hard to find anyone who gave more appropriate answers in an interview than Yeonghun Choi did.
He hadn’t managed to come first because of me, but thanks to having stayed second in the class all the way through, his grades were impeccable.
And so TA Medical’s talent development project moved ahead without a hitch.
But on the other hand, there were also places that wanted to grow TA Medical by forming a partnership with us.
“All right. Go meet them first and come back. If it’s a company JH would want badly, then they’re definitely a raw gem.”
“Yes, understood.”
BRK Korea, JH Medical’s competitor.
It was the foreign company that held second place in global market share for chest X-ray systems.
It was also the X-ray company that had said QF Technology had signed an agreement with at the Startup Competition.
BRK Korea had shown interest in TA Medical the moment TA Medical started having friction with JH Medical.
The only reason the final decision had come this late was that it had first gone through internal review, then APAC headquarters, then the Asia division, and finally the main office in sequence.
“Don’t just present the first option and stop. If they dislike the first one, you need to offer the second verbally only. Understood?”
“Yes. I’ll keep that in mind.”
“If it goes well, it’ll be huge. If you slip up, though, they could end up like JH. Do this well. We’re the ones holding the cards here anyway.”
“Yes, sir.”
It was difficult to create a true differentiator in X-ray equipment.
That was why BRK, like JH Medical, had no choice but to covet TA Medical’s technology.
But BRK had prepared a collaboration proposal that went beyond formal legal review and avoided even the possibility of an ethical problem.
Maybe because the main office had once been badly shaken by a dispute with a partner company, the company’s motto placed real value on maintaining good relationships with collaborators.
“Still, Manager Na did a good job reviewing it, which is why head office decided so quickly. Nice work.”
“I’ll make sure the collaboration talks can move forward quickly as well.”
Manager Inbeom Na was the one handling this project at BRK Korea.
He gave off a cold impression because he never said anything unnecessary, but he wasn’t the sort of person who entertained malicious thoughts.
He just didn’t say enough, which sometimes left people flustered.
“Hello, this is Siwon Kim from TA Medical.”
“Hello, CEO Siwon Kim. This is Inbeom Na, manager at BRK Korea. I’d like to request a meeting on collaboration from our headquarters’ side. Is now a good time to talk?”
“Oh? Yes. It is.”
Kim Siwon couldn’t help but be thrown off by the sudden request for collaboration from a major corporation.
But he responded as if he wasn’t surprised.
He knew how disadvantageous it was to look flustered at the start.
“Then could you let me know the earliest possible time you’re available for a meeting? I think we’ll need about two hours.”
“Ah. Just a moment.”
Siwon thought, with real gratitude, that it was fortunate this conversation was happening over the phone.
He hadn’t even properly introduced either side yet, and already they were asking him for his schedule out of nowhere, which made it impossible to keep his expression under control.
The one and only weakness of Manager Inbeom Na, who handled everything flawlessly.
“We’d prefer sometime after 3:00 p.m. today, or before 2:00 p.m. tomorrow. Should I come to BRK Korea?”
“No. For the first meeting, I’ll come to TA Medical. Would 3:00 today work?”
“Yes, that works. I’ll see you at 3:00. I’ll send the address once more.”
“Yes. See you soon.”
The moment the call ended in a rush, Manager Na filed for an outside meeting and came out.
Since he wore business casual every day anyway, there was no need to prepare much.
The one who needed preparation was Siwon.
“What is it? Why do you look like that, Siwon?”
“I think either a prank call just came in, or some absurd opportunity is about to fall into our laps.”
“What?”
“BRK Korea says they’re coming for a meeting at 3:00.”
“What?! If that kind of discussion was happening, you should’ve said something sooner!”
“I told you the moment it came up.”
“I-I can’t go into the meeting then. I haven’t washed my hair because I’ve been dealing with bugs.”
“I’m in slippers right now?”
TA Medical’s atmosphere changed in an instant from calm to chaos.
Siwon stared at his phone screen, still dazed after the call had ended.
Just at the right moment, Badugi popped up on the screen and shoved a speech bubble forward.
[Inbeom Na is a real employee at BRK. There’s no public voice sample, so I couldn’t do voice analysis, but he doesn’t seem to be lying.]
Only after reading that speech bubble did Siwon feel his mind snap fully into focus.
“Everyone. Book the meeting room right now, and go take a sauna if you have to.”
◇◇◇◆◇◇◇
We moved fast.
Very fast.
“Anyone who’s been to the sauna, sit here. I’ll do your hair.”
“Siwon, we’re out of our shared perfume.”
“It’s not like more than half of us won’t smell the same anyway, so it doesn’t matter.”
“Why is BRK suddenly coming here?”
“Siwon, why did the meeting get scheduled for today all of a sudden?”
“They asked for the earliest possible time, and I was too honest. Sorry.”
Luckily, the suits we’d had tailored last time were still at the company.
We’d missed the chance to take them home, and that absentminded mistake turned out to be a fortunate bit of preparation.
“Still, wouldn’t it be better if we greeted them casually, like Steve Jobs? We are an IT company.”
“We’re not the kind of people anyone would look up to like Steve Jobs.”
“That’s unfortunate.”
After a quick round of grooming, we all hurried into the meeting room.
It was the shared meeting room on campus.
I had never thought much of the place before, but now that an outside guest was coming, I couldn’t help feeling how shabby it was.
“If this meeting goes well, let’s apply to move into a university-affiliated office instead of staying in the club room.”
“Ooh, agreed!”
“Feels like something we should’ve done before the interview.”
“The next interview will be less embarrassing, so it’s fine.”
While we were discussing the next office, the clock struck 3:00.
Knock, knock, knock.
And exactly at three o’clock, Manager Na entered the meeting room.
“Good afternoon.”
We all stood up at once, handed him our business cards, and Manager Na gave each of us one in return.
With his identity naturally established, everyone on the team grew just a little more tense.
“I appreciate that the developers and the planner are all here for the meeting. I think we’ll be able to have a detailed discussion.”
Manager Na went straight to the point instead of making small talk.
“Are you currently in discussions with any X-ray company other than BRK Korea?”
So that’s what he was after. An exclusive contract.
I answered the blunt question clearly.
“No. But entering into an exclusive contract with a specific company would be difficult.”
Manager Na wasn’t rude or selfish.
He simply brought up the point faster than most people would.
Because he was that kind of person, I spoke just as directly about our position, and he merely nodded.
“I see. An exclusive contract would probably be the most favorable offer, so in that case, would it be better if I didn’t present this option?”
“Yes. Even if it would help us build immediate cash assets, it would be a risky choice in the long run. I appreciate your understanding.”
“Understood. Then the meeting will be a little shorter. I only brought a formal contract for the exclusive deal portion.”
He even came with a contract.
He really was the kind of person who pursued efficiency to the absolute extreme.
“By any chance, do you have a B option under internal review?”
“We do. Could we embed TA Medical’s AI into your X-ray systems?”
The next proposal wasn’t bad.
So I could keep the conversation going with a faint smile.
“Could you explain the details more concretely?”
“First, let me explain our product lineup.”
This was a fairly interesting proposal.
They wanted to add our AI as an option to their own product selection list.
“So you’re considering permanent use?”
“We wanted to hear TA Medical’s opinion on that.”
“First, I’d like you to tell us the option BRK has in mind.”
“We’ve been considering two options.”
Both options were decent.
One was to pay a larger amount up front and allow perpetual use, limited to a certain number of cases, and the other was to make a lower-priced one-time payment each time.
“Would it be possible to make the form of embedding AI into the X-ray system exclusive for one year, as long as it’s based on the date of approval?”
But as expected, this good offer came with a proposal for exclusivity.
Still, since it wasn’t a one-sided exclusive contract, we said we’d hear him out in detail.
“Then how would the contract terms change?”
“We’ll transfer a contract fee of 100 million won.”