Only the Best Survive
The study in the Information Super-Highway was furnished with only a single desk and chair for human use. Though the room was as large as a school classroom, towering bookshelves lined every wall, packed to capacity with countless volumes. The humidity controls and heating and cooling systems, installed at great expense, were calibrated not for people but for the preservation of books. It was, in every sense, a true library. The desk sat at the very center, and the bookshelves were arranged to face inward, so that anyone entering naturally found their gaze drawn to the person seated there.
That was the usual atmosphere. Today, however, something was different. Across from the desk reserved solely for the master of the house stood an additional chair—comfortable and well-cushioned, if not particularly ornate. The seat opposite the empty chair, the one belonging exclusively to the owner, was also occupied. A man in his mid-forties sat with his eyes closed, relaxed. He was Choi Hyun-hee, the newly appointed chairman of the Ilseong Group.
Though barely a year had passed since he assumed the position, the word “new” still clung to him. The shadow of his predecessor was simply too immense. A knock sounded at the door.
“Chairman, it is Lee Hyuk-jae.”
“Come in.”
Choi Hyun-hee opened his eyes at the voice from outside. He had not been napping; he had merely closed his eyes to focus his thoughts, and his response was immediate. When he saw the expression on Lee Hyuk-jae’s face as the man entered, he already knew what news was coming. The two had worked in tandem for twenty years. Their rapport was such that a single glance conveyed everything.
“What is it?”
Still, he asked the question out of courtesy.
“ID Technology has requested to postpone the meeting between you and Yoo Jae-won.”
“Their reason?”
“A man named Choi Kang-wook claims the President personally asked for assistance regarding the Expo. He is currently in discussions with Organizing Committee Chairman Oh Myung, and the matter may take some time. Our sources confirm that Yoo Jae-won is indeed in Yeouido at the moment.”
“The Expo headquarters is in Yeouido as well, is it not?”
“Yes. However, the organization is not yet fully operational.”
“Hmm. So the boy has stood us up.”
Choi Hyun-hee’s voice rose slightly. No ordinary man could claim this study as his own. Among the pure-blooded members of the Choi family, only those possessing something exceptional could rise to this seat. The family that controlled the Ilseong Group had four potential heirs. Choi Hyun-hee had been the youngest and lowest-ranked among them, yet he had surpassed his brothers. His extraordinary instincts were the reason. He had plunged headlong into the semiconductor industry when others called it reckless, and now it generated enormous profits. Those same instincts told him that Yoo Jae-won’s sudden postponement was not a simple scheduling conflict.
“Have they proposed another date?”
“No, Chairman. I found their presumption in canceling so casually offensive, so I merely told them we would speak again later.”
“You see? You have already been played. If you press for a concrete date, they will keep delaying.”
“Pardon? How could they possibly do that?”
Lee Hyuk-jae looked genuinely startled. He was a man who answered questions, not one who asked them.
“Who knows. We must have done something to earn Yoo Jae-won’s displeasure without realizing it.”
Choi Hyun-hee’s perception remained as sharp as ever.
“That is absurd. We have done everything short of groveling. How dare he look down on us? I will correct that insolent brat’s manners at once.”
“And how exactly do you intend to do that?”
“Pardon? The usual way—summon him and give him a proper scolding.”
Choi Hyun-hee let out a long sigh. “When will you ever grow up? Your days of playing the idle rich are over. You are the chief secretary of Ilseong now. You must act accordingly. Besides, do you not realize there is an American hand behind that boy? The Agency is too busy watching the opposition to notice, but the Americans have already blocked three separate attempts to approach him.”
“The—the Americans?”
“Yes. Edwin Feulner told me himself.”
“Edwin Feulner? The president of the Heritage Foundation?”
“Correct. So do not act rashly as you once did. I will handle Yoo Jae-won personally. On your way out, remove that empty chair.”
Lee Hyuk-jae, who had been about to speak further, bowed his head and lifted the chair. Though lighter than the chairman’s own seat, it still weighed at least twenty kilograms; his face tightened with the effort as he carried it from the study.
“Insolent little wretch.”
Alone once more, Choi Hyun-hee muttered the words. He had maintained a composed front before Lee Hyuk-jae, but the emotion lingered. Even so, he did not direct open hostility toward Yoo Jae-won. He did not yet understand why ID Technology was treating him and Ilseong with such disregard, but that was something he could uncover in time. After all, no company could conduct business in Korea without eventually brushing against Ilseong’s influence. What truly rankled was that the current Ilseong could no longer summon a mere boy at will.
Within Korea, the Group now ranked a distant third behind Mirae and Daeho. On the global stage, its standing was even more modest. That was why he had wanted to meet Yoo Jae-won—to hear firsthand how the young man had successfully penetrated the American market and how he had secured victory in court. Ilseong was practically a multinational corporation, yet it had achieved neither of those feats. Its American appliances sold because they were cheap, not because anyone coveted them. Memory semiconductors were in demand thanks to the growth of the computer industry, but all the equipment required to produce them had to be imported. Lawsuits were equally frustrating—patent disputes between companies, product-liability claims stemming from customer negligence—yet none had ended in satisfying victories. Only legal fees mounted.
Yoo Jae-won’s trajectory offered a potential breakthrough. Choi Hyun-hee’s analysis was that ID Technology had defeated Microsoft not merely because of decisive evidence, but because the software it produced was simply superior. According to reports from Ilseong’s American branch, MS-DOS had become obsolete; Android Alpha was now the standard. Consumers avoided it not only for performance reasons but because its reputation had soured. Only manufacturers with large existing inventories still shipped products with MS-DOS, and their market share was collapsing rapidly.
“If the quality had been poor, would anyone have adopted Android Alpha?”
No. Consumers were acutely sensitive to their own interests. Had MS-DOS been overwhelmingly superior in performance, it would not have lost ground so easily, regardless of any unfair practices. Therefore, the thought that followed was natural: if Ilseong could elevate its own products to the highest level, it might replicate ID Technology’s success.
“Only the best survive.”
Then how did one become the best?
“If we continue as before, we will only produce ordinary goods.”
Repeating the existing production methods would yield the same results—along with the same high defect rates. The designs, the manufacturing equipment, the workers, even the rigid executives clinging to outdated customs—all of it needed to change.
“Everything must be replaced.”
Choi Hyun-hee reached that conclusion. For most people, arriving at such a realization would have been achievement enough. They would have stopped there, satisfied. But Choi Hyun-hee was different.
“The real question is how to change it……”
He moved beyond the decision to change and began considering the concrete methods required. That step was far more difficult. His contemplation continued. Fortunately, the canceled meeting with Yoo Jae-won had left his schedule open, allowing him to think undisturbed.
“The answer lies with geniuses.”
After long reflection, Choi Hyun-hee arrived at his conclusion. The solution had already been demonstrated by ID Technology. The finest products were, after all, created by the finest geniuses. Last year he had doubted Yoo Jae-won’s abilities; now he no longer did. Yoo Jae-won was a genuine genius—one recognized not only in Korea and America but by the entire world. That was why his products had conquered the globe, why they had raked in precious dollars. The company had reported 14.5 billion won in corporate tax; by inference, it had earned between 700 and 800 billion won the previous year. While last year’s sales figures allowed reasonable projections for most firms, ID Technology was an exception. Its growth trajectory was impossible to predict. What was certain was that this year’s results would far surpass those of 1989. At the same time, the company alone was sustaining hundreds of thousands of livelihoods.
At that thought, Choi Hyun-hee’s eyes gleamed.
“A genius who can feed a million people. A genius who can feed a hundred thousand.”
That was precisely what Ilseong needed. If the Group possessed even one world-class genius like Yoo Jae-won, its future would be secure. Such individuals were not scattered along the roadside, however. While only one genius might feed a million or ten million, geniuses capable of sustaining a hundred thousand could certainly be found. Gathering enough of them would make ascending to world-class status a trivial matter.
“Oh my, what an honor it is for this humble place to receive Your Excellency’s august presence.”
Lee Yong-kwon greeted Yoo Jae-won with an exaggerated bow the moment the latter entered the office. In truth, he wanted nothing more than to hoist the younger man onto his shoulders and run cheering through the halls. Ever since Sambo Computer had begun producing the Egg PC, tangible changes had appeared. The most striking was the complete reversal of their sales approach. Buyers now came to them in such numbers that the sales team no longer needed to seek them out; products practically sold themselves. The days of tearfully discounting inventory that refused to move were nearly gone. Except for old stock and last year’s contracted volumes, discounted sales had vanished. The reason was simple: fulfilling orders for the Egg PC alone was already overwhelming, pushing production of standard PCs to the back burner.
“I never realized design could matter this much.”
The specifications of the Egg PC and Sambo’s own high-end models were not vastly different. If anything, the Egg PC offered less expandability. Yet in terms of sales volume, the Egg PC’s share was overwhelming. Even now, with the second factory still under construction and monthly output at fifty to sixty thousand units, reservations stretched all the way to summer. New orders continued to arrive even before existing reservations were cleared, raising the possibility that this year production volume might actually equal sales volume—an almost unbelievable situation.
The sole difference between conventional computers and the Egg PC was design.
“Computers all used to look more or less the same, so we developed fixed notions. It never even occurred to us to attempt a different form factor. You seem rather busy these days.”
To Lee Yong-kwon, Yoo Jae-won’s remark sounded like nothing more than self-praise. Far from resenting it, however, he found it endearing.
“Hm? We are building a second factory. I am in charge of the project, so yes, it is a bit hectic. Once it is complete, we should be able to produce a hundred thousand units a month—assuming we can secure the necessary components, of course.”
They were already in a situation where production equaled sales, yet demand still outstripped supply. Computer assembly did not require enormous facilities. The only tricky part was the polycarbonate molding process for the transparent cases, which involved some risk and complexity, but it remained manageable. Interestingly, even parts suppliers who had previously paid Sambo little attention were now changing their attitudes. Intel, once the undisputed king of the industry, had altered its stance as well. In the past, even an order for 486 processors would take considerable time to fulfill. This time, when they placed a new order, they received volume discounts that had previously been unavailable.