I Don't Know Where This Story Began
Jo Byeong-jin watched Kim Seong-ho's profile for a long while as he walked out of the booth with perfect composure.
"What the hell were you thinking, dumping that kind of money into a place like that?"
"A place like that?"
Kim Seong-ho turned his head, looking back at the booth Byeong-jin had just dismissed, and asked the question.
Byeong-jin dropped his voice so only Seong-ho could hear.
"Why invest in a used-book outfit? And a full million dollars, at that?"
He stared at Seong-ho as if no amount of thinking would ever make it make sense.
Seong-ho took in his friend's expression and laughed.
"Starting next month they're selling new books too, you know."
"What difference does that make?"
Byeong-jin's voice rose; he hurriedly lowered it again.
"New books, used books—it's still a bookstore. Why throw money at a bookstore? And not even one in Korea—an American bookstore… Fine. Let's say I give you the bookstore idea a hundred times over. At the very least it ought to have a proper storefront, right? But this place? They're going to sell books on the internet? Who's going to buy and read them that way?"
Byeong-jin glanced back at the booth Seong-ho had just left.
The man who had worn a blank look before Seong-ho arrived was now beaming, celebrating happily with his wife.
Byeong-jin managed a bitter smile at the sight of their joy.
Of course they were happy. A sudden million-dollar investment would make anyone happy.
"Those two have every reason to celebrate after a windfall like that. But you… why do you look so pleased?"
"Because I'm happier than they are?"
"You're happier? You just poured a million dollars into something that might vanish into thin air."
"Why so negative? That place is going to succeed."
Seong-ho pointed at the booth with one finger and looked straight at Byeong-jin.
"You should close your eyes and put in just ten million won yourself. It might change your whole life later."
"…Investing in some place with a name like a South American jungle is going to change my life?"
Byeong-jin frowned slightly at Seong-ho's expression.
Looking at that face, he felt the first flicker of doubt—maybe his own judgment was the one that was off.
"Byeong-jin."
Seong-ho slung an arm around his friend's shoulders.
"I think of you as more than a friend. When I find something good, I want you in on it with me."
"Well… I feel the same way…"
Byeong-jin looked at the near side of Seong-ho's face and answered.
Still keeping his arm around Byeong-jin's shoulders, Seong-ho walked on through the convention center.
"That's why I'm telling you. There's a good place, so come along. That one is going to succeed for sure. So let's invest together. Not a huge amount—just ten million won. Even ten million will change your life. Trust me and put it in."
"Change my life, huh…"
Byeong-jin turned his head once more toward the booth.
Kim Seong-ho was not the sort of man who dragged friends into dangerous schemes.
And yet here he was, saying it would change a life and asking for only ten million won.
Byeong-jin still didn't fully trust the awkward little booth run by a couple with a name that sounded like a South American jungle.
But he trusted the man telling him to invest in that awkward company.
"All right. If you're jumping into a fire pit, I can't just stand here and pretend I don't see it."
"It's not a fire pit."
"Fine, whatever it is. Ten million won won't kill me if it's gone… Okay. I'm in."
Only moments earlier he had been asking why anyone would invest in a used-book seller. Now Jo Byeong-jin had decided to go in with Kim Seong-ho.
Seong-ho clapped him on the shoulder.
"You won't regret it. I won't let you. And ask Dae-su too—see what he wants to do."
"No need to ask. If we say we're going in, that guy will jump in with us without a second thought."
Park Dae-su's face must have floated into his mind; Seong-ho laughed and clapped Byeong-jin's shoulder again.
"Good. Then I'll put up the first ten million for Dae-su's share. When we get back to Seoul, collect it from him and pass it to me."
"Got it."
Seong-ho gave him a light pat on the back and strode ahead.
"There's a lot more to see. Let's finish looking around while we can. Starting tomorrow we have to mind our own booth, so today's the only free day."
He set a quick pace toward the next booth.
Byeong-jin followed, muttering under his breath.
"A minute ago it was a company named after a South American jungle. Now he's heading somewhere with a name I can't even make sense of. Gu…? How do you even pronounce that?"
With a look of pure incomprehension, Jo Byeong-jin trailed after Kim Seong-ho.
And so the two of them hurried through the Los Angeles Convention Center.
Jo Byeong-jin drew up beside Kim Seong-ho, who was inspecting the Ilhyeon Electronics booth, and spoke in a low voice.
"Didn't your wife chew you out?"
"Chew me out? Why would she?"
"Do you have any idea how much you spent in two days? Five million dollars. Five million. Don't you ever worry that one of these companies is just going to take your money and run?"
"Why would I worry about that? Everything goes through lawyers and signed contracts. What's the risk?"
"What about them going under?"
"Going under?"
Seong-ho, who had been studying the Ilhyeon Electronics products on display at the show, turned his head toward Byeong-jin and let out a short laugh.
"If anything, I'm worried the stakes I bought over the last two days are going to come back too big."
"Th… is that so?"
Byeong-jin paused for a beat at the answer, then shook his head.
He himself had followed Seong-ho's lead and put in fifty million won. To him that was still an enormous sum, but next to Seong-ho's five million dollars it was a drop in the ocean.
Yet Seong-ho looked even more unbothered than the man who had invested fifty million. Byeong-jin could only shake his head again.
"Stop worrying about me and start worrying about this."
Seong-ho raised a hand, surveying the products arranged inside the booth.
"It's laid out too strangely—too crude."
"Strange?"
Byeong-jin turned and examined the booth, then spoke softly to Seong-ho.
"Isn't that a good thing?"
According to the plan, a crude layout was supposed to be desirable. That was the thought behind the question.
Seong-ho shook his head at him.
"Even so, there's a minimum line you have to hold. Right now it just looks amateurish."
He shook his head once more and called for the branch president.
"President Ji. Could you come over here for a moment?"
Seong-ho summoned the U.S. branch president of Ilhyeon Electronics and discussed the booth layout with him. After instructing him to study the other booths and rearrange the products in a somewhat better direction, he left the booth.
"Director."
On his way toward the booth displaying Ilhyeon Electronics mobile phones, Kim Seong-ho ran into a reporter wearing an ID badge around his neck and carrying a camera.
"Hello. I'm Park Chang-jin from Daehan Economy. Would a short interview be possible?"
Seong-ho nodded at the request and gestured with his hand.
"Even just while we walk over to the phone booth—would that work?"
"Of course. More than enough."
Reporter Park Chang-jin quickly pulled out his notebook and launched straight into questions.
"I understand you're aiming for Best Technology, Best Design, and the Innovation Award at this show. How do you see your chances? What probability would you put on winning?"
Seong-ho glanced at the reporter who had cut straight to the awards, then answered with a faint smile.
"There are more than a hundred appliance companies gathered here. Just the American and Japanese companies competing with us number over twenty. When you consider the sheer volume of products they've brought… I don't think winning any award will be easy for us."
"Still, back home they're giving you very high odds. Are you aware of that?"
"I've heard as much, and I'm grateful for it."
Seong-ho inclined his head toward Park Chang-jin, then lightly took the reporter's arm.
"I sincerely hope it turns out that way… but even if we don't take any awards, I'd appreciate a fair article."
"Of course. Don't worry. I don't have a vote myself, but I'll be cheering from the sidelines for a Korean company to win."
"Thank you."
Seong-ho gave a slight bow and stopped in front of the phone booth they had just reached. He turned half toward Park Chang-jin.
"Ah—by the way, have you visited any of our showrooms downtown?"
"Not yet. I heard you set up five of them?"
"Yes. Once the awards ceremony is over, I plan to take the Chairman around to the showrooms. Would you like to come along then?"
"That would be perfect for us."
Park Chang-jin answered as if he had been waiting for exactly that offer. Moving together with Ilhyeon was far better for the press than wandering around separately.
"Then would you mind passing the word to the other reporters as well? As you can see, my staff and I are all rather busy…"
Seong-ho pointed into the booth, where customers, investors, and visitors milled about in a blur of activity that looked chaotic at a glance.
Park Chang-jin caught his meaning and nodded.
"Don't worry. I'll make sure everyone knows. After the awards, you said?"
"Yes. We'll move as soon as the ceremony ends."
"Understood."
"Then I'll leave it in your hands. I'm afraid I have to get back to work…"
Seong-ho said they would see each other when it was time to head to the showrooms, then stepped into the phone booth.
"If they win at the awards and we get shots of crowds packing the downtown L.A. showrooms into the paper, sales should climb a bit, right?"
Park Chang-jin thought he needed to get the plan to the desk in Seoul as soon as possible and walked off.
For a full week the consumer electronics show raced forward at a breathless pace.
CEOs of the world's famous appliance makers appeared to announce their companies' plans. Firm after firm poured out new products, showing the direction of the global market to the visitors who had come to the show and to the world beyond.
Among those products were Ilhyeon Electronics' newest releases.
The company led with its newly launched TVs, washing machines, and refrigerators, while also unveiling a new mobile phone on one side of the booth, drawing a measure of attention.
The attention, however, was not as strong as hoped.
"A lot less buzz than the hype suggested…"
Park Chang-jin tilted his head, sensing the atmosphere that had settled over the convention center through the past week.
It was nothing like the mood when they first arrived, and an undercurrent of unease had begun to circulate among the Korean reporters.
"As long as they take an award, it'll be fine."
A fellow reporter who had also come to Los Angeles said that winning would solve everything.
"Yeah. If they win, sure… but can they actually win?"
Park Chang-jin sat in a chair in the awards hall—the highlight of the entire show—and spoke to his colleague.
"When we first got here it felt like an Ilhyeon Electronics win was a given. That's why we all dispatched reporters, you included…"
"Right. Word came that a win was likely, so we scrambled to get people out here. Otherwise how would any of us have made it to L.A. in times like these?"
"Exactly. But have you ever stopped to think about that?"
"Think about what?"
The colleague sitting beside him sent Park Chang-jin a look that asked what he was talking about.
"Well, it's just…"
Park Chang-jin was about to continue when brilliant lights flared and the awards ceremony began.
The host's booming voice and the sweeping lights drowned out even the people sitting right next to one another.
"I still don't know where the story that Ilhyeon Electronics was a lock for the awards even came from."
It had been a rumor that suddenly spread among the reporters for no clear reason.
And neither Ilhyeon Electronics nor the Ilhyeon Group had ever reacted to it.
Taking that silence as confirmation, the press had worked itself into a frenzy and come all the way here.
But the atmosphere he had seen and felt with his own eyes was different.
That difference made Park Chang-jin wonder, all over again, exactly where the claim of a likely win had begun.
"Ceremony's started. We'll talk later."
His colleague mouthed the words and raised a hand to signal they would pick it up afterward, then pulled out a notebook, ready to jot down the list of awards about to be announced.
Park Chang-jin set his curiosity aside for the moment and shifted his gaze to the stage where the ceremony was just beginning.
The host ran through the new products that had drawn the most attention at the show—each one built around some new technology—and rolled highlight reels that lifted the energy in the room.
After roughly twenty minutes of footage, the true highlight began: the awards themselves.
By the faint light available, Park Chang-jin wrote the major award results into his notebook.
The names of the world's famous appliance makers filled the main prize slots.
And at the very end, under the title of the Worst Technology Award, the name of Ilhyeon Electronics was written into his notebook.