Chapter 93: Great Investment Success
Chapter 93: Great Investment Success
I met people and was influenced by them.
From Elon Musk, I learned boldness and an innovative way of thinking.
- Senior Managing Director An Myeong-guk: Isung Group's proposal is better. From the cost of building the data centers and the construction period to the quality of the components. They are a step above DK.
- Kim Shin: I see.
Isung Group's overall competitiveness in the IT sector was formidable.
I decided to build data centers worth two billion dollars in Chuncheon and Canada, where the average temperatures are low.
“Eddie. What do you think of this?”
“It's great. Earth Resource's system efficiency and processing speed will improve tremendously.”
I had already bought a data center for 300 million dollars, and I was still in the process of acquiring suitable data centers in California.
Despite that, we were struggling just to keep Earth Resource's services running smoothly.
This was because our price competitiveness had attracted a large number of corporate clients.
Thanks to the increasing revenue, the cloud division was hectic day after day.
“Once the data centers are completed in a year and a half, there won't be any problems in the computing and cloud sectors, right?”
“The growth rate in this field is just so fast. If we continue to grow at this pace, we might get overloaded. When that happens, we'll have to somehow maintain it by distributing Source Coins through the grid network.”
Cash was accumulating at Earth Resource from its business activities.
I decided to make a bold move, just like Elon Musk.
I learned that while it's important to be cautious, sometimes you have to build a boat to cross the river if necessary.
“Don't worry. I'll build more data centers for you.”
“Really?”
“Yeah. Let's go all out and do it right.”
- Kim Shin: Tell Isung and DK that we're placing additional orders for data centers.
- Senior Managing Director An Myeong-guk: What scale should we go for?
- Kim Shin: We'll do it for six billion dollars.
It was a similar amount to what Google invests in data centers annually.
It was an excessive amount for a company the size of Earth Resource, but it wasn't as if we had any other major expenses besides labor costs.
‘I need to learn from the growth strategies of Korean companies.’
How did Isung Electronics come to dominate the semiconductor market?
It was thanks to their bold, preemptive investments in promising fields, even if it meant operating at a loss.
Since I wasn't taking on debt to invest, I had to go for it if it was at a manageable level.
“Eddie. Will this be enough?”
“Of course. Once the data centers are complete, our services will run smoothly for the time being.”
“That's a relief. I'll invest again next year depending on the situation.”
“If you do, we'll be able to dominate the cloud market.”
Dominating the cloud market.
Seizing control of the IT world was a thrilling prospect.
* * *
Han Chae-won stopped going to work for a while and just wrote.
[ My Marriage with Kim Shin Was Hell. ]
She had already decided on a provocative title and planned to write the story to match it.
The news of Kim Shin coming to Korea, meeting with corporate chairmen, and the worldwide anticipation for the vaccine was fantastic news for her.
‘I'm going to sell 10 million copies of this book.’
With Kim Shin's fame, her book was bound to sell well, wasn't it?
She imagined a future where she held book concerts in New York and London, became a famous celebrity, and filmed television commercials.
Han Chae-won, wearing horn-rimmed glasses, tapped away at her laptop.
[ Kim Shin was a very diligent person. When he took on a task, he never gave up and saw it through. He was kind to people and... ]
“No. This isn't it!”
As she wrote while recalling the past, she found herself writing honestly as memories came to her.
“This won't do.”
[ Kim Shin was incredibly poor. Living in a semi-basement apartment, he was afraid to spend money because of his unfortunate family situation, and he would even hesitate before buying a cup of coffee from a vending machine... ]
“This isn't it either. The story of Kim Shin being a pathetic cheapskate is fundamentally uninteresting.”
When her book came out, wouldn't women buy it far more than men?
After all, men were likely interested in Kim Shin's investments, not his married life with his ex-wife.
“Aargh! Writing is so difficult. I'll just skip the beginning for now.”
[ During our marriage, Kim Shin was unusually diligent. He took care of the cleaning, laundry, and even the dishes by himself... ]
“This doesn't seem right either.”
As she tried to write, she recalled her marriage and realized she had never seen Kim Shin truly rest.
“Why did I hate Kim Shin so much?”
She slowly thought back, starting from their newlywed days.
To save money on wallpapering their villa in Gangbuk, Kim Shin had done the wallpaper and flooring himself.
She had gotten angry, calling it shabby and embarrassing.
“What is this? It's so embarrassing! Other people decorate their living rooms with marble, and we have plain white wallpaper? Isn't this the cheapest kind?”
“It's neat, isn't it? I thought clean wallpaper would be good since the house isn't that big.”
“You should have just gotten a bigger house from the start!”
“We didn't have enough money... I got a house that fit our budget. You know that, Chae-won.”
“I don't care. I just know this is all your fault.”
Kim Shin liked small, simple things.
One day, she saw him staring at his phone for a long time and, wondering if he was talking to another woman, she peeked over his shoulder.
But he was just debating whether or not to buy a 15,000-won power strip.
“What are you looking at?”
“This power strip is amazing. You can unplug things with a light press, without holding it with both hands. The design is nice, and it has a phone charging function too.”
“Are you going to buy it?”
“I want to, but a 6,000-won one works just fine. I'm just debating because this one is pretty.”
“Why are you agonizing over something like this!”
Even then, she had snapped at him.
When she got angry over trivial things, she never felt the need to hold back.
“Other people get Chanel and Hermès. They get two or three luxury bags when they get married. What is this? My husband is being a cheapskate over a power strip. I can't even go to gatherings because I'm too embarrassed to introduce you to my friends.”
At times like that, Kim Shin would wrap his arms around her.
“I'm sorry.”
“Is 'sorry' supposed to fix everything? Do you have any idea how much I sacrificed to marry you?”
Trying to write a novel based on facts was proving to be incredibly difficult.
She had a feeling that if a book with this content was published, she would be criticized by the public.
‘Was writing always this hard? What on earth am I supposed to write?’
Every time the editor from Random Flower Publishing in New York contacted her, she scrambled to make excuses.
“It'll be finished soon. I've decided what to write and I'm working on the first draft. Yes, yes. I'm going to make it really provocative.”
She had received a sizable advance, and it seemed the publisher had high expectations.
Every time she tried to write, she felt like her hair was falling out in clumps.
* * *
- Paul: Phase 3 clinical trials are proceeding smoothly. We've increased the number of participants, but no significant side effects have appeared.
News came in about the vaccine in clinical trials.
- Kim Shin: What about Pfizer and Moderna? And the other vaccines?
- Paul: Those two companies will be starting their Phase 3 trials soon. There are some side effects, but they're minor. Most of the other companies have halted their trials in Phase 1 or 2 due to side effects or insufficient antibody production.
- Kim Shin: When will the Phase 3 results be out?
- Paul: It meets the requirements for emergency use authorization, so a decision should be made soon.
The wait had been so long.
‘Once the vaccine is released, it will save so many lives. This is what makes it all worthwhile.’
He spent his time going to work at Earth Resource.
New, competent employees joined the team, and the division's performance improved every week.
On weekends, he played tennis or went yachting for exercise and stress relief.
Lee Jong-yeop, who followed him around every day, made a suggestion.
“Let's go to a party, sir.”
“A party? Why? We don't have anywhere to go.”
“Do you need an invitation? At your level, sir, you'd be welcome at any party in California.”
“Haven't I networked enough?”
He had established contact networks with high-ranking politicians from various countries and could meet with any business leaders he wished.
While he wasn't just one degree of separation from everyone, his status as the owner of Earth Resource and Biolife made it possible to meet and do business with anyone.
Even Isung Group and DK Group, which he had met in Korea, were world-class in terms of corporate scale.
“It's for your enjoyment, sir.”
“Enjoyment?”
“You work so much. You should meet some beautiful women. For a fun life, you need to enjoy some pleasure without responsibility.”
“...”
While he respected Lee Jong-yeop's philosophy on life, he didn't want to follow it himself.
Honestly, the phrase "pleasure without responsibility" was very tempting.
A party on a multi-hundred-million-dollar yacht with dozens of beautiful women.
This was all entirely possible for him now.
But since he hadn't grown up that way, he couldn't relax and enjoy it.
- Jin Yoo-kyung: When should I come to the US?
- Jin Yoo-kyung: I'm all packed. I can leave this week!
- Kim Shin: Don't you have work?
- Jin Yoo-kyung: Ad planning is slow. Mirae Motors is full of old-timers who only like the same old stuffy commercials.
Perhaps because he had suggested they meet in the US, Jin Yoo-kyung had been contacting him regularly.
- Kim Shin: Hmm... I think I'll be free until the vaccine comes out.
- Jin Yoo-kyung: Really? Then I'll leave this week!
- Kim Shin: Do you have a plane ticket?
- Jin Yoo-kyung: Of course. You think the Mirae Group's secretarial office can't get one plane ticket?
- Kim Shin: Huh? If you get it through the secretarial office, won't the chairman of Mirae Group know you're coming to the US?
He had just mentioned it casually.
He thought it might be awkward if the chairman of Mirae Group found out.
- Jin Yoo-kyung: My dad told me to go.
- Kim Shin: What?
- Jin Yoo-kyung: He told me to actively meet you, saying you're a good person. From my dad's perspective, anyone with a lot of money is a good person.
- Kim Shin: Ah. I see.
Pressure: 10kg.
- Kim Shin: But there aren't many tourist spots around here.
- Jin Yoo-kyung: Who needs tourism? We can just talk over a beer.
- Kim Shin: You'll have to book a hotel first. Or I could do it for you.
He worried that mentioning a hotel might make her misunderstand and think he had ulterior motives.
He had only said it because she might have trouble with lodging once she arrived.
- Jin Yoo-kyung: But why spend the money?
- Kim Shin: Huh?
- Jin Yoo-kyung: The house you're living in now looks really nice. You can just let me stay there.
- Kim Shin: ...
Pressure: 20kg.
And that evening, he got a call.
- Paul: The UK has granted emergency use authorization for the K-Vaccine.
- Kim Shin: Already?
It wasn't just the US; they had signed export contracts and were conducting clinical trials in European countries as well.
- Paul: It seems the UK accepted it after reviewing the data on the K-Vaccine's efficacy and safety.
- Paul: The US is also expected to approve it soon.
Suddenly, things started to get busy.
The British Prime Minister announced in a media interview that the British people would be able to get the Korean-produced vaccine starting next week.
“This is the first in the world to be introduced. Are there no concerns about that?”
Prime Minister Johnson of the UK responded to the reporter's question.
“This decision was based on scientific data. We determined that introducing the K-Vaccine could reduce fatalities in the UK by more than 50,000, so there was no reason to hesitate.”
- Senior Managing Director An Myeong-guk: The UK wants to take an initial shipment of 10 million doses.
- Kim Shin: Yes. Proceed.
It wasn't just the UK; two days later, the US also officially granted emergency use authorization for the K-Vaccine.
Until now, he had made an enormous amount of money through various investments.
Now, his investment could save people all over the world.