Chapter 56: Keeping a Promise Through Text Messages
Chapter 56: Keeping a Promise Through Text Messages
The employees at Earth Resource were curious about Kim Shin.
‘What kind of person is our CEO?’
Large companies were run by systems.
Employees acted like cogs in a machine, driving the efficiency of the entire organization.
Unlike these established corporations, the role of a startup founder in Silicon Valley was paramount.
There were famous founders, founders with technical prowess, and founders with extensive networks.
The inclinations of those starting businesses were diverse, and the entire company's identity changed according to the CEO's will.
The extent to which an employee's potential could be drawn out was also up to the CEO's ability.
‘I joined because I was curious about the Source Coin business, but is this the right place for me to realize my dreams?’
‘The salary is decent, but the benefits are honestly not great. I do like the PC room, though.’
Earth Resource was a Silicon Valley startup, and it wasn't large.
After joining the company and working frantically, they found Earth Resource growing by the day.
They felt the thrill of venturing into new fields and continuing to take on challenges.
“Don’t you think our company is a bit unusual?”
“Yeah. It’s aggressive about entering new businesses, and it’s incredibly popular in Korea. Who would have thought there would be so many miners?”
“I think we’re benefiting from the CEO being a famous figure in Korea.”
“He must be a pretty big celebrity if he has his own YouTube filming crew.”
“He might have been an actor or a K-pop idol.”
The employees shared light conversation while drinking coffee.
As the company grew and its business areas diversified, many employees knew little about the CEO.
The programmers were busy optimizing Source Coin and adding new features.
Then, a video of Kim Shin discussing Source Coin in a meeting was posted on the company intranet.
“I don’t know. He seems like someone who’s painting a bigger picture rather than just being greedy for money.”
“A man with a dream?”
“I never expected him to use the word ‘ecosystem.’ That’s a word with a lot of meaning. It seems like he’s pushing the benefits of Source Coin in various fields while pursuing a platform business.”
“If Source Coin truly forms an ecosystem, the effect will definitely be huge.”
“It’s hard to imagine.”
This was the talk among the general staff.
The programmers, too, had their own thoughts.
“When the CEO first started the company, he just quietly watched the program development. To think he was harboring such grand ambitions inside.”
“For a coin to form an ecosystem, it has to be useful, and people who want it have to be able to get it. Looking back, our company has been following that process from the very first step. And we did it while quickly turning a profit.”
“So it was all in the CEO’s head.”
“Our company’s name is Earth Resource. He must be planning to distribute all resources through Source Coin, right?”
“That makes sense.”
“There’s no other startup in Silicon Valley growing this fast.”
“There was a reason our CEO had so much money.”
The employees could find joy in working at Earth Resource.
* * *
Earth Resource was a new company, so there was no separate CEO's office. I used a desk in the large open office space.
I could clearly hear the employees’ words of praise.
‘I didn’t expect this.’
In elementary school, I rarely received praise from my teachers.
Was my lacking self-esteem finally being filled, albeit belatedly?
An Won-jae, the producer from the Korean B-team, spoke.
“We’ve finished editing the video from the meeting, and it’s ready to be uploaded to YouTube.”
“Already?”
“Yes. You’ve been all business lately, so we didn’t have any footage to use, but this was a fun change of pace.”
“…”
The video was going up on YouTube.
It was embarrassing, but I couldn't tell them to delete it.
It was a free opportunity to publicize the identity of Source Coin and how the shopping mall would be revamped.
Ever since starting the business, I’d held the belief that I had to do my best at all times.
The number of employees was approaching 200, and we were continuously hiring more as the business expanded.
As the number of people working for the company grew, my sense of responsibility grew with it.
“You’re incredibly popular in Korea, sir.”
“…”
“Perhaps because of YouTube, we’re getting offers from all sorts of broadcasts, from news to entertainment shows. Have you ever considered appearing on one?”
“Absolutely not.”
* * *
Kim Shin’s meeting room video.
As soon as Episode 8 was uploaded to YouTube, the comment section exploded.
- Source Coin is the future...
- An ecosystem, whoa… If he succeeds, he’ll devour the coin market.
- He’s got a great mindset for a startup CEO. The reason he’s not greedy for money… is probably because he’s already rich!
- His dream is big, but creating an ecosystem is too much. The company can issue an unlimited number of coins, so he could just do a pump-and-dump and run.
- Pump-and-dumps happen with coins that have a fixed supply, too. Isn’t this better than a structure where only the early miners profit?
- Kim Shin is already way too rich. I doubt he’d run.
- Will the price of Source Coin drop if they give it out like rewards points on the shopping mall? We don’t know how many more will be released.
- It’s over $6 now, so it’ll probably hold at $3? It might even skyrocket.
- That’s right. Coins always go the opposite of what you expect. They’re releasing a lot? That means more people can get them. Instead of the price dropping, I predict it’ll surge as trading volume increases, whoa…
- All you guys waiting for the Source Coin price to drop, wake up. Source Coin is holding the $6 line because there’s no supply for trading. You can’t buy it even if you want to.
- It's at $6 because the company exchanges it for $1. If there were no restrictions, it would have passed $20 by now.
- Guess I need to increase my credit card limit.
- Why?
- I have to go all in once the shopping mall is updated. It’ll be a huge loss later if the payout rate drops.
- This is the way. Let’s go for a 50k limit. - I need to get an overdraft account first.
- Let’s goooooo!!!
* * *
Lee Jong-yeop arrived.
He was my first subordinate, the one who had taught me the ropes of office life at Arcor.
“Shin!”
Dressed in a sharp suit, Lee Jong-yeop came straight to the office.
“It must have been a long trip.”
“Not at all. Thank you for calling me, even though I’m lacking in so many ways. Just give me any task, and I’ll work my hardest.”
I fully understood that Lee Jong-yeop lacked specific skills or experience.
But then again, the same was true for me.
Who would have thought that just two or three months ago, I’d be running a business in Silicon Valley?
You never know what life has in store.
I was fond of Lee Jong-yeop as a subordinate, so I intended to give him a chance.
“This is Lee Jong-yeop, who’s worked with me since I was in Korea.”
“Hello, I’m Lee Jong-yeop! It’s a pleasure to meet you all.”
I walked around the office, introducing Jong-yeop to the employees.
My targets were the staff in the service and business teams.
With his characteristically friendly demeanor, Jong-yeop smiled and greeted the employees.
“Nice to meet you.”
“Yes, I look forward to seeing you around.”
After greeting the employees at their desks, we didn’t enter the development department.
“The programmers are busy, so it’ll be hard to greet them. I’ll introduce you to Eddie, the department head, separately.”
“Yes. I’m not really interested in that field anyway.”
After a brief tour of the company, it was time to leave work, so I took Jong-yeop home with me.
It was a three-bedroom apartment.
It had been fine for living with just Oh Myeong-woo, but now Lee Jong-yeop, who had nowhere else to go for the time being, would be living with us too.
‘I should probably start looking for a bigger, nicer place.’
My life in San Francisco was getting longer.
I’d been so busy since starting Earth Resource that I hadn’t even thought about finding another place.
Meeting with employees and other people for business, it felt like a waste of time to go house-hunting.
‘I can have Jong-yeop start by finding a decent place.’
I spoke as we rode the elevator up to the 11th floor.
“The apartment has three rooms. You can use one of them, and the kitchen is…”
“I know.”
“You do?”
“I’m a YouTube subscriber.”
“…”
Was this what it felt like to have no privacy because of YouTube?
I made a light joke with Jong-yeop, whom I hadn't seen in a while.
“You subscribed, liked, and turned on notifications, right?”
“Of course! I even made my elementary school-aged nephew do it.”
“…”
I wondered how many of my three million-plus subscribers were elementary school students.
Oh Myeong-woo was already home, deeply engrossed in a computer game.
He went to work at dawn, did his job, and left early.
Game of the Year.
He said it was to beat the GOTY-winning games once more and to evaluate the latest trends and the overall skill of game companies.
Lately, he had even expanded into indie games, desperate to find talented game developers.
“This is Jong-yeop. You saw him at my… wedding back in Korea, right?”
“Yeah. Good to see you in the States. How have you been?”
“I’m Lee Jong-yeop. It’s an honor to meet you.”
Somehow, I had a feeling the two of them would get along well.
Throughout my time working with Jong-yeop, I had rarely seen him fail to get along with someone.
He was on friendly terms not only with company staff but also with doctors.
Though sometimes, he got a little too friendly with the nurses, which caused some problems.
“Jong-yeop, you must be tired.”
“I rested well on the way, so I’m fine.”
“Then let’s grab a beer since we haven’t seen each other in a while.”
“Sounds good.”
We had beers at a nearby burger joint.
I had made sure the filming crew didn’t follow us when I met Jong-yeop, so it felt relaxing.
The bodyguards were keeping an eye on the surroundings from nearby.
“How’s Arcor?”
“Same as always. As I told you on the phone, it’s slow because of COVID.”
“Right.”
Seeing Jong-yeop after so long reminded me of Jo Soo-ah, who was still working at Arcor.
While eating a burger and drinking beer, I sent her a text.
- Kim Shin: What are you up to?
- Jo Soo-ah: It’s been a while. I'm on my computer.
As it happened, I had something to apologize to her for.
I had made a promise but failed to keep it.
- Kim Shin: I’m sorry. We promised to make time to see each other once a month.
- Jo Soo-ah: You were busy with work. I’ve been watching you work hard on YouTube.
- Kim Shin: I see.
To think that everyone around me was keeping up with me through YouTube.
It occurred to me that even Han Chae-won might be one of my subscribers.
If there was someone who left a particularly nasty comment, perhaps I could suspect her.
Her number might be in my phone’s blocked messages, but I had no desire to check.
After traveling for two years and starting a business in America, my marriage felt like a distant memory.
- Kim Shin: Jong-yeop is here in America, sitting next to me right now.
- Jo Soo-ah: I met him before he left.
- Kim Shin: You did?
- Jo Soo-ah: He seemed really happy to be leaving the company. A lot of nurses called looking for him after he quit.
- Kim Shin: He’s a popular guy.
- Jo Soo-ah: You were more popular, Oppa.
I paused for a moment.
I had often heard Jo Soo-ah call me Senior or Assistant Manager Kim, but I still wasn’t used to her calling me Oppa.
- Kim Shin: How are your parents?
- Jo Soo-ah: They’re doing well. They’re spending every day happily together. They’ve taken up fishing as a hobby lately.
- Kim Shin: Fishing…
- Jo Soo-ah: My hospital director loves it.
Director Je of Jemyeongwon.
A fishing fanatic so extreme that if he wasn't at the hospital, you'd have to look for him on the seaside rocks.
- Jo Soo-ah: A lot of the doctors talk about you.
- Kim Shin: What do they usually say?
- Jo Soo-ah: That they’re jealous. They say they graduated from medical school and got their professional licenses at 35, but you’re already rich. They’re envious.
I had messaged with Jo Soo-ah occasionally from the US, but I had been too busy with work to have a long conversation like this.
- Kim Shin: By the way, does texting like this count as our once-a-month meeting?
- Jo Soo-ah: If we talk a little longer.
Sitting in the burger joint, texting her, I felt a joyful feeling, as if I were on a date.