Chapter 84: Korea Tour
Chapter 84: Korea Tour
It had only been seven months since I moved to America, founded Earth Resource, and worked tirelessly.
Looking back at what I'd accomplished in that whirlwind of time, I felt a sense of pride.
“Myeong-woo.”
“Yeah.”
“This is all thanks to me, right?”
“Of course, of course. What are friends for?”
I teased Oh Myeong-woo, playing on the subtle difference in pronunciation.
Now that I was actually going to Korea, I looked at my mansion in Palo Alto with a tinge of regret.
To think I had to leave a house like this, where I could enjoy tennis and swimming, just to visit Korea.
“How many days will you be in Korea?”
“I need to visit Dr. Lee Ho-yeon in the hospital and check on my Korean businesses, like Biolife and Dream Art Rainbow. I think I'll have to stay for about a week.”
Lee Jong-yeop was scheduled to accompany me on the trip to Korea.
Oh Myeong-woo said he wouldn't go this time, since he had visited his family back in the winter.
“I should only visit home once every two years. If I go too often, my parents and my sister don't like it.”
He had his own firm principles, so I didn't try to persuade him further.
“Jong-yeop, let's visit Dr. Lee Ho-yeon first, and then we can tour the Dream Art Rainbow sets afterward.”
“Vice President Jeong Beom-tae asked if you would attend the Earth Girls' fan signing event.”
“Did we acquire that company too?”
“Yes. He said they bought the entire agency. What should we do?”
Excluding the top three agencies in the country, their market caps weren't that high.
Oh Myeong-woo, who had been listening to the schedule from the side, chimed in.
“We have to go. No matter what, we absolutely have to go to the Earth Girls' fan signing.”
“But you said you weren't going to Korea.”
“Meeting the Earth Girls changes everything. I need to get my album signed.”
I had no idea who the Earth Girls were, but it was decided that Oh Myeong-woo would come to Korea with us.
I hastily arranged the trip to Korea and looked for plane tickets.
“Kim Shin. Are you going to Korea?”
And then I received a call from Gavin Newsom, the governor of California.
“Yes. How did you know?”
I couldn't help but suspect he was tapping my phone or surveilling me.
The success of Earth Resource.
The money I'd invested in the New York Stock Exchange was growing at a frightening rate.
Just as the paranoia that I might be on the government's watch list for becoming a super-rich individual with tens of billions in assets was starting to sprout…
“I saw it in an article. There was a post on Mr. Oh's social media saying he was going to Korea.”
“Social media?”
“Haha. I hope you have a safe trip to Korea. My friend.”
After some light conversation, I hung up and searched for Oh Myeong-woo's social media accounts.
[ khanOTL Oh Myeong-woo
Followers 2.7M ]
A popular figure with 2.7 million followers.
Most of the pictures he posted were about games.
During his five years at Google, he had posted an enormous number of articles while also doing various programming side jobs.
- You're so cool, Vice President!
- Your skills in that boss fight were insane.
- The Vice President who's serious about gaming.
- They say his work as Vice President of Earth Resource is just a side gig;
- So you like female characters, huh? lol
- I respect the Vice President's conviction to only ever play as female characters.
- Shooters, action, simulation, role-playing. He likes them all, but his most beloved games are dating sims.
- You're so busy gaming, when do you have time to date?
Each post had tens of thousands of comments, and surprisingly, Oh Myeong-woo had replied to a significant number of them.
- I am pretty cool!
- In reality, I'm becoming a pot-bellied old man, but my gaming skills are that of a 15-year-old eighth-grader.
- There's no comprehensive content as great as gaming. Games will be the core of Earth Channel!
- I'm a Vice President to make a living, but if I make a lot of money, I plan to just play games for the rest of my life.
- Female characters are the truth...
- Fact: Ever since I created a male character without thinking in seventh grade, I have never once played as a male character again.
- Dating sims that let you experience the feelings of romance are the ultimate bliss in life.
- It would be a problem if dating cut into my gaming time.
I could only marvel at Oh Myeong-woo's diligent activity.
It must have been because of his active presence on social media and online communities that he was able to gather the initial developers for Earth Resource.
And then there was a post from a few minutes ago.
[ Going to meet the Earth Girls with Kim Shin! Mwahahahahaha!!!!!! ]
As I stared blankly at the screen, a sudden sense of dread washed over me.
I searched my name on the internet.
- Kim Shin's trip to Korea after 8 months. Is his goal the Earth Girls' fan signing?
- Kim Shin's favorite girl group is the Earth Girls.
- South Korea's richest man, Kim Shin, a huge fan of the Earth Girls?
- Earth Resource, nothing was known about the company name's origin, but was it because of the Earth Girls?
- Earth Girls' leader, Jo Ah-ram: 'I'm proud to hear that CEO Kim Shin likes our group. It makes being a singer feel worthwhile.'
* * *
In South Korea, the ones making the most money were the 'Western Ants.'
Their investments in the U.S. stock market alone amounted to 28 billion dollars.
In the era of COVID and low interest rates, they had aggressively turned to overseas investments.
- The Guru is finally coming.
- Congrats! Congrats on the Guru's visit to Korea!
- If only he'd hold just one investment seminar T_T
- I'd have no other wishes if he just recommended one stock during his visit.
- Kim Shin is busy, he has to meet the Earth Girls ;;
- I thought I'd live in a semi-basement apartment my whole life. Despite my colleagues trying to stop me, I broke my 30 million won savings account and invested. It's now 200 million won!
- The hope of the youth, Kim Shin!!!
When videos of Kim Shin's daily life were uploaded to YouTube and he hit it big with put options, people just thought it was a passing thing.
A stroke of luck that came out of nowhere.
In late March of this year, Kim Shin made massive buys in the U.S. stock market. Many of those who followed him had already seen returns of two or three times their investment.
- I'm thinking of getting in now, is it too late?
- Not too late. I got in last week and already made over 10%.
- But it's gone up so much already. The experts are saying it's overvalued compared to its performance.
- Don't believe the experts. The only time to cash out is when Kim Shin sells.
The Western Ants didn't just stick to their own communities.
DC Stock Gallery, Naver Value Investment Cafe, Paxnet, and others.
Communities with user bases ranging from 100,000 to over 500,000 were all singing Kim Shin's praises.
* * *
We arrived at Incheon Airport late in the evening.
“This way, please.”
At the airport, we were guided by staff through the VIP passage.
Fearing a swarm of reporters, I had kept our arrival time a secret and even chartered an entire private jet from Korean Air.
As I walked out of the arrivals hall, escorted by twenty foreign bodyguards in suits.
‘Hmm. I kind of feel like a crime boss.’
Walking with the bodyguards, I felt my back straighten and my shoulders pull back.
“It's Kim Shin!”
“Wow. Look at all the bodyguards. That's insane.”
The moment I left the arrivals hall, I was spotted by travelers.
“Hello.”
Perhaps because of my YouTube videos, everyone recognized me easily. I gave a small wave and left the airport.
It was too late, so we went straight to my apartment in Hannam-dong.
Lee Jong-yeop went to his own home, while only Oh Myeong-woo came with me to the apartment.
“This place is really nice.”
“Isn't the house in San Francisco better?”
“American houses are all the same. Apartments are the best.”
Oh Myeong-woo, the apartment enthusiast.
We made some instant ramen, and to help with the jet lag, I went to bed early.
* * *
The next day, I heard that Dr. Lee Ho-yeon was asleep while receiving an IV drip, so I decided to postpone my hospital visit until the evening.
The morning's schedule was a visit to Dream Art Rainbow.
Since it handled production, investment, and talent management, the company leased an entire building in Sangam-dong.
“Welcome, CEO!”
As soon as I got out of the car, Vice President Jeong Beom-tae bowed deeply in greeting.
“You're older than me, you don't have to do that. A simple handshake will do.”
“How could I possibly do that?”
Even as he shook my hand, Jeong Beom-tae folded his body in a deep bow.
He seemed a bit old-fashioned, but he was a vice president with outstanding loyalty.
Jeong Beom-tae sidled up to me and spoke in a low voice.
“I've arranged for you to have dinner with the Earth Girls tonight.”
“Excuse me?”
For a moment, I was so dumbfounded I just stared at him. I was even a little angry at how he saw me.
But Jeong Beom-tae spoke as if he couldn't help it.
“It's not really the culture to provide 'entertainment' these days. And the Earth Girls aren't some unknown group. Arranging a dinner for you to get to know them was the best I could do.”
“...”
I stood there blankly for a moment before sighing.
What had the reporters done? Or maybe, the root of all this was Oh Myeong-woo.
I looked at Oh Myeong-woo, and he just shrugged.
“What, me?”
“No, it's all your fault. What do you mean, 'what'?”
* * *
“The first basement level has the dance practice rooms.”
Since I was in Sangam-dong, I decided to tour the building floor by floor.
I didn't know when I'd be back here again.
“Good morning!”
In the dance practice room, mid-teen trainees bowed at a ninety-degree angle to greet me.
There was an even mix of boys and girls.
‘How can people look like that?’
Kids so handsome and pretty they seemed to glow.
Even in tracksuits that highlighted their slender frames, you could see their sense of style.
“Would you like to say a few words?”
Despite Vice President Jeong Beom-tae's suggestion, I didn't really have anything to say.
I myself had lived diligently, but honestly, wouldn't I have failed without luck?
When I was young, I thought hard work and talent would never betray you, but reality was different.
Failed entrepreneurs, investors, developers.
Did these people lack effort or skill?
You could only succeed if you seized luck and opportunity. Spouting that kind of talk to teenagers would make me the worst kind of condescending old man.
“It'll be tough, but try to enjoy it and work hard.”
“Thank you!”
After leaving the practice room, I toured the production departments.
Spaces where staff gathered for brainstorming sessions.
They were in the middle of discussing ideas for dramas, movies, and variety shows currently in production.
As I walked around, shaking hands with various producers and writers whose names were hard to remember, it became lunchtime.
“Vice President, have you eaten?”
“There's a decent restaurant nearby, CEO.”
“Let's just eat at the company cafeteria.”
It was trendy for Korean agencies to provide meals.
I finished the Dream Art Rainbow tour with a delicious meal at the building's cafeteria.
“Myeong-woo. You wait here and get your autograph when the Earth Girls are done with their schedule tonight.”
“Yeah, that was the plan.”
* * *
In the afternoon, I went to Mirae Hospital to visit Dr. Lee Ho-yeon.
His face was gaunt and haggard.
He looked as if he had completely neglected his health, driven by the responsibility to quickly create a coronavirus vaccine to save lives.
“CEO.”
“It's okay. Please rest.”
He was alone in a private suite, and I had intended to just tell him not to overwork himself.
That creating the vaccine was a great achievement in itself, and that once it passed clinical trials, it could save hundreds of thousands of lives.
“CEO. I'd like to ask for more support for Biolife.”
“What?”
“Just because the vaccine has been developed doesn't mean it's over.”
He said that as the coronavirus spreads through countless people, mutant variants will emerge.
The nature of the disease changes, neutralizing the effects of the existing vaccine and becoming more infectious.
“In most cases, as an infection spreads, its symptoms weaken. The virus adapts to survive. But if a case emerges where it mutates to become more lethal, it will cause tremendous damage.”
A mutation into a more vicious virus.
In other words, we had to prevent the birth of another infectious disease.