The Community Guide and the Red Devils
The name “Glass Wallet Community Guide” sounded grandiose, but a closer look revealed it was essentially a set of terms and conditions. The real difference lay in how it dramatically expanded and clarified the vague rules that existing agreements had glossed over regarding internet usage by both users and content providers. The guide’s core objective was to restrict access to any posts, replies, images, or other content that risked sparking social controversy, while minimizing the potential for monetization—thereby strengthening the platform’s self-moderation systems.
Even in Yoo Jae-won’s eyes, the current internet had far too many problems. For one thing, its spread had been far too rapid. Broadband infrastructure had blanketed the globe before society could establish proper norms or regulations. In the earliest days of the internet, it had felt like a liberated zone; illegal files flooded every corner, and the medium became synonymous with “everything is free.” Jae-won had steeled himself for the inevitable backlash, filed lawsuits against Warez sites distributing pirated material, and demanded exorbitant damages calculated against their upload traffic. That pressure had helped clean things up somewhat.
Now, with the launch of Steam and other convenient, affordable ways to purchase legitimate software and games, the circulation of illegal content had been significantly curtailed. The remaining frontier—one he had yet to tackle in earnest—was internet content itself.
Paid content providers on platforms like Nextcom were somewhat better behaved; at least they observed certain boundaries. Ordinary users, however, were a different story. On 2CH.COM, the moment moderators looked away, the boards were flooded with problematic images and text. What people uploaded as “reaction pics” were overwhelmingly sexual, violent, or deliberately provocative. When wars broke out between boards, the situation grew even worse.
One characteristic of large community sites was the formation of alliances and rivalries between different boards. It was strangely fascinating: during these conflicts, users would raid rival boards and paralyze them with the most horrific reaction images they could find.
“These days, using those gruesome photos from Ogrish.com is all the rage, right?”
Just hearing the name made the site sound like somewhere you should never visit. It was notorious for posting raw accident footage—especially fatal incidents—without any blurring or censorship. And the problem wasn’t limited to images and videos. Simple text messages could be just as toxic. Real-world bullying often spilled over into cyberbullying, and hate-filled messages were commonplace.
In Korea such sites would have been blocked immediately, but in the United States—where freedom of expression was treated as nearly sacred—they operated without interference. Because of that same emphasis on free speech, administrators had to be extremely cautious about deleting problematic posts. This was exactly why the Community Guide now glowed on Yoo Jae-won’s monitor.
By requiring users to agree to the guide before they could freely access ID Group’s internet services, the company would have clear legal grounds for decisive action if violations occurred later. Jae-won read through the draft with meticulous care.
Users and content providers must agree to these guidelines to access ID Group internet services. Violations may result in restricted access, demonetization, and permanent bans.
“Mmm~! This is good.”
Yoo Jae-won reached a positive conclusion after examining every line. He couldn’t help but admire President Allen’s work. The wording was clean, free of loopholes, and carefully balanced. While some localization would be needed for each country, the document was universal enough to apply almost anywhere. Most satisfying of all was the confidence that it would hold up even if legal disputes arose with users who violated the rules.
No matter how strongly freedom of expression was protected by the constitution, it had never been intended to justify trampling on others’ personal rights. For now, SNS and power blogs weren’t directly tied to users’ income, so the problem wasn’t yet critical. But in a few years that would change. Monetization models based on follower counts would emerge, and people would inevitably begin manufacturing controversy to grow their audiences. It was far better to establish clear standards now than to face a firestorm later.
Moreover, this draft hadn’t been written by President Allen alone. The group’s legal team and one of America’s largest law firms had collaborated on it. The quality was so high that Jae-won didn’t even need to consult the community guidelines he had stored in his Memory Palace from his previous life. Though Allen had modestly called it a “draft,” it was ready to be implemented as-is.
“We should apply it to 2CH.COM immediately.”
Yoo Jae-won moved quickly. Since the quality was solid, there was no reason to delay. Rather than a full rollout, however, they would begin with 2CH.COM alone. No other site was better suited for testing new internet policies and technologies. Registration required nothing more than an email address, and most services could even be used anonymously. It was the world’s largest community site, where millions of posts were uploaded daily by every kind of person imaginable.
Reactions would be immediate. After gathering feedback, they could proceed with a full-scale implementation.
“With both the Transparency Report and the Community Guide in place, our group should be able to weather any controversy.”
Carrying a sense of buoyant anticipation, Jae-won logged into the integrated network, pulled up the draft, and firmly pressed the approval button.
- All eyes on the destination of the massive capital raised through ID Technology’s public listing!
- Chairman Yoo Jae-won launches aggressive expansion following NBC acquisition!
- After securing massive content assets, what’s next? The Premier League!
- Group sources say everything is on the table: league broadcasting rights and even the acquisition of football clubs.
While ID Group was carrying out internal innovation through the introduction of the Community Guide, the media’s attention had shifted to the Premier League and potential football club acquisitions. Surprisingly, there was considerable support. Even inside NBC there was almost no opposition. The reason was simple.
Many within NBC believed the first clear sign of the network’s decline had been losing the renewal bid for Sunday Night Football—the NFL broadcasting rights. The NFL contract ran on nine-year cycles, and NBC had unfortunately lost it in 1998. The network had grown complacent, while ESPN’s bold bid had been decisive. Afterward, NBC’s ratings began to slide while ESPN’s soared. It would be another four years before they could bid on NFL rights again. Rather than let that long stretch go to waste, many felt it was better to invest in Premier League broadcasts.
There were concerns that buying an actual football club might be overreaching, but since Jae-won would be using his personal funds, it wasn’t something ID Group employees could object to.
“Chairman, I’m back to report.”
Kim Dae-seok, who had been away for about a week, appeared before Yoo Jae-won for the first time in a while.
“Was your trip to England enjoyable?”
“Yes, sir! There were many fascinating sights. It would have been even more pleasant if the weather had cooperated, but it rained rather frequently.”
“The gloomy weather is practically a symbol of England, isn’t it?”
Kim Dae-seok’s journey to the UK had not been a vacation. It had been carried out at Jae-won’s direction, though consideration had been given to his position as a close aide; his entire family had been allowed to accompany him.
“Here is the list of clubs that have expressed willingness to sell or shown interest.”
The reason such consideration had been possible was that the mission he had been given was preliminary research for acquiring an English Premier League football club. Compared to his usual duties, it had been a relatively relaxed assignment. Thanks to that, Kim Dae-seok had been able to properly play the roles of husband and father alongside his wife, Oh Hyun-ji, and their sons during their time in Britain.
Nevertheless, he had not forgotten his original purpose. He had contacted various Premier League teams to gauge their openness to a sale and gathered extensive information about the league itself.
“Let’s take a look.”
The document file was quite large—over 3MB—suggesting substantial content. Fortunately, when printed on A4 paper it wasn’t hundreds of pages; it came to roughly twenty sheets. The large file size came from the attached images. Photographs of each club’s staff and players had been neatly organized, along with details on remaining contract lengths, players’ specialties, personalities, and more.
“Wow, the report is far better than I expected.”
“The clubs provided a great deal of assistance.”
It was clearly the work of a true professional. Thanks to the thoroughness, Jae-won felt as if he were choosing a team at the start of a Football Manager game. Many of the clubs listed in Kim Dae-seok’s report were familiar names: Chelsea, Liverpool, Arsenal, Tottenham, and others. Among them, one stood out the most.
“Manchester United? The treble-winning 98-99 side is on the market?”
“It appears the major shareholders, John Magnier and J.P. McManus, are facing some financial difficulties lately. They’ve been in frequent contact with the magnate Malcolm Glazer.”
“Oh? So it hasn’t been sold to Malcolm Glazer yet?”
The Manchester United that Jae-won remembered was the club after the Glazer takeover. The Glazer family’s story began with Malcolm Glazer’s rags-to-riches tale. Born in 1928 in New York to Lithuanian immigrants, he had built his fortune in real estate and parking lots, then expanded into banking and television. He had been particularly aggressive in acquiring sports teams; the NFL’s Tampa Bay Buccaneers were also under their ownership.
“Yes, sir. After you expressed interest in the EPL, their contact with Glazer appears to have decreased.”
That was fortunate. The Glazer family’s management of sports teams never received positive reviews regardless of the sport. When they acquired the Buccaneers, they had borrowed heavily from banks rather than using their own money. Naturally, they then used the team itself to repay those debts. Instead of investing in the club, they extracted money to service loans. No fanbase would welcome such owners.
The same pattern had been repeated with Manchester United. They had taken out massive bank loans to complete the purchase and were repaying them with the club’s own revenue. Investment in the squad and facilities had been minimal. The fact that Manchester United had still achieved remarkable success was almost entirely thanks to the legendary manager Alex Ferguson. Only Ferguson’s influence had opened the Glazers’ wallets for player signings, and only his tactics had brought victories on the pitch.
After Ferguson’s eventual retirement, the club’s decline had been steep and seemingly bottomless. If Jae-won acquired the team in the Glazers’ place, he was confident he could manage it a hundred times more effectively.
“Manchester United would be the best choice, but…”
There was one complication: Manager Ferguson himself. The reason Jae-won had decided to buy a Premier League club in the first place was to help Ahn Jung-hwan—one of the heroes of the 2002 World Cup. The Italian club Perugia and its fans had been so vicious after Ahn’s golden goal against Italy that returning to his parent club had become impossible. To make matters worse, Ahn’s agent had panicked at the Italian backlash and made several serious errors. The situation had clearly been the club’s fault. They could have gone to FIFA or the Court of Arbitration for Sport to void the contract, yet the process had been deliberately complicated.
Fortunately, before the paperwork could escalate, Jae-won had contacted Ahn Jung-hwan directly and terminated the existing agency contract, preventing the fire from spreading further. In short, he and Ahn had already formed an alliance.
Acquiring Manchester United would make it possible to bring the player in, but securing playing time was another matter. Ferguson was not the type to field anyone who hadn’t earned his trust, and he was certainly not the sort to bow to a chairman’s wishes.
“For Manchester United, we should first ask Ahn Jung-hwan for his opinion before proceeding.”
If Ahn believed he could win Ferguson’s approval through his own ability, they would move forward with the acquisition. If he felt it would be realistically difficult, it would be wiser to look at other clubs.
“Second choice is Chelsea!”
“Yes, sir. Chelsea is also a team with tremendous potential.”
Chelsea had become famous after being acquired by the Russian oligarch Roman Abramovich. On the internet he was known for essentially playing a real-life version of Football Manager. His passion for the club was genuine, though he was often criticized for excessive interference.
“Third choice is Liverpool.”
After Chelsea, Jae-won had selected Liverpool. The club boasted a long history and tradition, as well as the famously passionate Kop supporters. It already had a considerable fanbase in Korea. Jae-won was certain that if a Korean player joined, the club’s popularity there would rival even Manchester United’s.
Once Jae-won’s intentions were clear, the club acquisition process accelerated rapidly. Negotiations naturally began with Manchester United. When they had asked Ahn Jung-hwan for his thoughts, his answer had been exactly what they expected: “I’m confident.”
With the player himself expressing confidence, Jae-won saw no reason to hesitate. He immediately began price negotiations with Manchester United’s major shareholders, John Magnier and J.P. McManus. To Malcolm Glazer, who had been circling the club, this was like a bolt from the blue.
- Chairman Yoo Jae-won’s representative makes contact with Manchester United!
- Manchester United fan club “Red Devils” split between support and opposition!
Regardless of the reactions, the acquisition negotiations had begun in earnest, and varied responses continued to pour in. However, until the final contract was signed, Yoo Jae-won had no plans to travel to England. The ID Group’s biggest annual event—IDDC 2002—was now right around the corner.