The Wedding Day and the World Tour
Even as Yoo Jae-won prepared the Xbox and delivered a successful presentation at E3, wedding preparations continued steadily. Most couples planning a wedding reportedly experienced significant stress, which often led to frequent arguments and, in the worst cases, the relationship falling apart before the ceremony. Yet Yoo Jae-won and Tiffany never had a single argument. That was only natural, since Jae-won had entrusted the entire wedding planning process to Tiffany. With the Xbox project—a project worth hundreds of millions of dollars—demanding his full attention, he simply could not spare the time to oversee the wedding arrangements. Tiffany understood his situation completely and made no unreasonable demands. That did not mean the wedding itself was scaled down. They had decided on an American-style ceremony, which was simpler than a traditional Korean one, but a bride’s romantic vision for her wedding remained the same whether in America or Korea, and Tiffany was no exception.
Jae-won, too, had to pass through the basic wedding milestones, including the so-called “studio-dress-makeup” package. In their case, however, they applied the concept differently. The timeline alone was unusual. Most couples rushed through the process at a frantic pace, but Jae-won and Tiffany proceeded at a leisurely pace that accommodated his schedule. They rarely used unfamiliar photography studios; instead, they shot in familiar locations such as their newly completed newlywed home or Frederick’s mansion. Naturally, they hired a world-renowned photographer, which resulted in exceptionally beautiful photographs.
The dress and makeup were handled differently as well. Jae-won had once wanted to accompany Tiffany to a bridal shop and react to each dress she tried on, but his schedule made that impossible. Instead, they commissioned several custom gowns from a wedding dress designer according to Tiffany’s preferences, which she would wear for both the photoshoot and the ceremony. For makeup, they brought in a professional, and here Jae-won voiced his preferences quite strongly. The heavy, overdone American makeup style of the 2000s was not to his taste at all. He preferred what was called “transparent makeup,” and fortunately he knew the perfect expert in that field—Kim Saem-mul. Of course, his knowledge came solely from his future memories. When he first contacted her, she had thought it was a prank call. After receiving her makeup, however, Tiffany was thoroughly delighted.
Needless to say, the kind of wedding preparation Jae-won and Tiffany enjoyed was not something just anyone could replicate. While it was comfortable and high-quality, the final bill was anything but comfortable. Though the amount posed no burden compared to Jae-won’s income, his old sense of money from his ordinary past still lingered, leaving him with a faint sense that perhaps this was excessive.
The media also buzzed with stories about their lavish wedding. Even though neither Jae-won nor Tiffany was a celebrity, the volume of articles surpassed that of most actual celebrities. After all, the union between the young emperor of an IT conglomerate and the granddaughter of Chevron’s owner provided endless material for speculation. The sheer scale of the ceremony further fueled gossip that captivated young women. Most of these articles came from small internet-only media outlets. Major legacy media could have been influenced by ID Group’s power and persuaded to exercise restraint, but the smaller outlets were too numerous and too minor to manage. For them, writing such pieces guaranteed easy clicks, so the internet was soon flooded with stories about Yoo Jae-won and Tiffany.
Time passed, and Saturday, July 1, 2000, arrived. Surrounded by the blessings of both families, relatives, and countless guests including Remington and Choi Kang-wook, Yoo Jae-won and Tiffany became husband and wife. A pastor officiated at a sizable church in San Francisco. Jae-won had attended church with his mother, and Tiffany, her family, and Frederick Taylor II along with their relatives were all Protestant, making the choice natural. The church, which could seat hundreds, was filled to capacity. It was a moment that perfectly showcased the presence of both Jae-won and Tiffany.
Yet the atmosphere among the guests was sharply divided depending on whether they were on Jae-won’s side or Tiffany’s. Jae-won’s guests gave the event the feel of a Silicon Valley conference. Presidents of hardware companies such as Intel, AMD, and NVIDIA, along with representatives from numerous software firms, had all come. In one corner sat executives from internet service companies as well. After all, ID Group had its hands in everything from complete PCs and software to internet services, and because Jae-won maintained good relations with these companies, they had gladly attended to celebrate his wedding.
Some guests had traveled from Korea as well. The family of President Park of Busan Group, Chairman Lee Yong-kwon of TG Group, and Chairman Ryu Jun-sik of Yugyeong Group had all made the journey. Jae-won’s elementary school friends, including Jumin and Eun-hye, were also present. Aside from the school friends, the common thread among the rest was that they were businesspeople. Since Jae-won was the chairman of ID Group, his network naturally centered on the economic sphere. Still, not all of his guests were from the business world. American Democratic politicians, the mayor of San Francisco, and the police chief had also come—people who desperately needed Jae-won’s support. Even Al Gore had tried to rearrange his schedule to attend, but Jae-won had asked him to focus on the primaries instead, saying he would accept the sentiment alone. Although the Democratic primaries were over and the Gore camp was confident about the general election, the greatest danger at this stage was acting as though victory was already assured. The principal’s warning against arrogance applied to more than just Jae-won.
Naturally, members of Korea’s Tongil National Party were also present in force. The party leader and even the three-term lawmakers elected consecutively from 1992 to 2000 had all attended. These were the guests who confirmed that Yoo Jae-won, who had inherited Jeon Myeong-heon’s notebook, was the hidden power behind the Tongil National Party.
On Tiffany’s side, the influence of Frederick Taylor II was unmistakable. True to her wide circle of friends from her days at Dilley, many peers had come. Yet there were also quite a few guests who did not look like they belonged to Tiffany’s generation. The most striking age gap came from the elderly gentlemen—oil industry figures. Tiffany’s maternal grandfather, Frederick, was the owner of Chevron, one of the world’s seven major oil companies. Tiffany herself had worked at Chevron thanks to that connection and, although she had since left, remained active in the oil sector. It seemed the major oil companies had used the wedding as an excuse for a small-scale meeting. Executives from ExxonMobil, Royal Dutch Shell, BP, Total, and Conoco had all arrived—not salaried managers, but the actual owners holding enormous stakes. Almost no one recognized them. Even Jae-won had not realized who they were at first. While greeting guests at the entrance as the new groom, Frederick had brought them over and introduced them, only then revealing their identities. Jae-won also clearly remembered Jacob’s displeased expression as he watched Frederick introduce him to the major oil company owners.
This was roughly the fifth time Jae-won had met Jacob, Chevron’s designated successor. He had met Frederick far more often, but Jacob had never been particularly active in attending family events. Whenever they did meet, Jacob’s complexion grew visibly worse. Jae-won harbored no special feelings toward Jacob—rather, he felt a degree of goodwill, since Jacob was, after all, Tiffany’s uncle. Jacob, however, did not seem to share that sentiment. He appeared to genuinely view both Tiffany and Jae-won as rivals. Perhaps Frederick was pressuring Jacob by comparing him to Jae-won in order to draw out his potential. Still, it was strange to see someone whose position as Chevron’s heir was secure behaving this way. Moreover, Jae-won was not the sort of person who would be intimidated by Jacob’s dark-circled, hollow-eyed glare.
The wedding ceremony itself was relatively simple, held at the church. In American weddings, however, the true highlight came afterward—the reception. The reception was lavishly decorated. The event hall at San Francisco’s finest hotel was adorned with flowers, and dozens of round tables had been arranged. No expense was spared on food, wine, or champagne. Humility was not particularly valued in America, and Jae-won wanted to offer his guests the very best hospitality possible.
In Korea, the wedding would have ended once everyone finished eating together, but an American reception included one additional event: the dance party. It began with the bride, Tiffany, and her father. The atmosphere was warm and solemn, as though a parent were sending off a daughter. Next came Jae-won and his mother. Kim Mal-sook had waved her hands in protest, asking what kind of dancing this was, but it was a fixed part of the program and could not be skipped. After that, there were no more formal dances. Everyone simply poured onto the floor and enjoyed themselves. Even the seemingly reserved Silicon Valley presidents and ID Group executives turned out to be surprisingly good dancers. Frederick’s side needed no mention. Only Gilbert and Yeong-sik, experiencing this atmosphere for the first time, looked awkward, but Tiffany’s bridesmaids pulled them onto the floor, forcing them to display their cursed dancing skills. In a club full of actual dancers they would have been pushed off the floor within minutes, but tonight they were the stars, and applause rained down instead of laughter. Having witnessed the thunderous applause, anyone might have mistaken their own skill for genuine talent and suffered a rude awakening on a real dance floor, but Jae-won was well-trained in self-objectivity.
After Jae-won’s chaotic dancing, the real reception party began in earnest and continued late into the night with great merriment.
The next day, after the passionate reception, Yoo Jae-won and Tiffany arrived at San Francisco International Airport, where their private jet awaited, accompanied by their families’ send-off. Not only the newlyweds but also the family members and company employees who had come to see them off were present. A honeymoon involving a private jet was, of course, far from ordinary in scale. The entire trip was planned to last at least a month, with stops at destinations all around the world. Since regressing, Jae-won had been running nonstop for twelve years. That relentless pace had allowed him to build the current ID Group, yet he still had a long way to go before reaching his ultimate goal. Humans were not machines; they needed proper rest. Even the most durable machine required regular cleaning, tightening, and lubrication to operate without trouble. Jae-won had always made sure his ID Group employees took their vacations, yet he had never done the same for himself. He could not spend his entire life working until the day he died. Taking the wedding as an opportunity, he had decided to travel the world and rest thoroughly, and Tiffany had naturally agreed.
Although Tiffany was the president of her own company, T&U Research, taking a month off posed no problem. With only about thirty employees, the company had gathered highly regarded experts in the field, and several executives who had left Chevron with her were capable of running operations in her absence. Thus, the honeymoon itinerary was set with the theme of a thirty-day world tour. In addition to classic honeymoon destinations such as Hawaii, Bali, and the Maldives, the route included many unconventional stops. One of them was Jeju Island. Until the late 1980s, Jeju had been the default honeymoon destination for Koreans, but that had changed after overseas travel was liberalized. However, since the mid-1990s, Jae-won had poured massive investments into the island. Jeju had transformed beyond recognition. The funds he had injected for tourism resource development and the electric vehicle industry already exceeded trillions of won. As a result, Jeju was practically Jae-won’s backyard, and the island had been added to the itinerary so they could enjoy the honeymoon while also generating publicity.
Another stop added for similar reasons was Mount Kumgang. Tourism to Mount Kumgang, which had begun in earnest the previous year, was still popular only within Korea. While that popularity alone posed no immediate issues, North Korea wanted to turn the mountain into a world-class tourist destination. Jae-won had always been curious about Mount Kumgang, a place he had never visited in his previous life. With the North Korean authorities’ ambition and Jae-won’s curiosity aligning, Mount Kumgang was successfully included in the honeymoon route.
“We’ll be going now!”
After bidding farewell to the in-laws who had come to see them off and the North American executives of ID Group, Yoo Jae-won and Tiffany boarded the plane. Shortly afterward, the ID Group private jet carrying Jae-won, Tiffany, the Korean guests, the security team, and the attendants roared down the runway and lifted into the sky. The aircraft set its nose toward the first destination, Jeju Island, and accelerated.