Real Man

Chapter 154:

Chapter 154

Yoo-hyun also wanted to work with him.

“I’ll go.”

“Oh, when?”

“In about five years?”

“What? Hey, that’s too late. Do you think I’ll still be here by then?”

No.

That’s why he didn’t have a connection with Yoo-hyun in the past.

“You will be. And by then, you’ll be a team leader, right?”

“Hey, there are so many dead waters above me.”

“You can do it. And you’ll be in charge too.”

“Well, even if it’s empty words, it makes me feel good.”

Kim Sung-deuk, who was staring blankly at Yoo-hyun, shrugged his shoulders.

A faint smile appeared on his lips.

As expected, the announcement that followed from Ilsung Electronics was a flop.

They declared the end of PDP and the transition to slim LCD TV.

But it overlapped with Hansung Electronics, and the product they showed at the exhibition was no different from Hansung’s.

It was the same for the mass production plan of full-touch phones, starting with the budget-friendly Haptic.

They lost their momentum because they overlapped with the color phones.

The Bluetooth speaker and the Duo HD player that combined Blu-ray and DVD were new, but they didn’t seize the issue.

At this point, wouldn’t it be Hansung Electronics’ victory in the keynote speech?

Kim Sung-deuk, who was smiling triumphantly, said.

“Shall we get up now? The exhibition time is approaching.”

“No. I’ll just listen to this.”

Yoo-hyun shook his head.

The reason he obliged Kim Sung-deuk’s request was to listen to the presentation he was about to make. He felt a strange urge to hear it.

Kim Sung-deuk, who was about to get up, sat down and looked at the podium.

“Then let’s listen together, huh.”

“If you don’t mind.”

The screen had the logo of JS, a famous German cosmetics company. Kim Sung-deuk, who was looking at it quietly, asked casually.

“This is a cosmetics company, right?”

“Yes. They also supply liquid crystal materials to our company.”

“Oh, the business areas overlap like that.”

Kim Sung-deuk, who was in the mobile phone division, couldn’t easily understand the content.

It was a company that was unfamiliar to the public in terms of IT appliances.

In fact, it was a keynote speech that was not easy to listen to.

The content itself was within the expected range.

They improved the response speed of liquid crystals, which was a chronic problem of cosmetics emulsification process, changed the liquid crystal compounds to enable operation at low temperatures, and so on.

What caught his eye more was the content that they would invest heavily in the LCD business.

It was a surprising figure even for Kim Sung-deuk, who was not very interested.

“Wow, are they going to switch from cosmetics to liquid crystal specialty materials?”

“Maybe they’re expanding their field.”

“LCD factories have high entry barriers.”

“They might acquire some equipment companies.”

“Really? Does that make money?”

Kim Sung-deuk wondered.

The LCD manufacturing plants were already tightly held by Hansung and Ilsung.

Even if they sold raw materials or equipment, it would be difficult to generate large profits because there were already things that were set up.

Then why did they make an issue with a large-scale investment?

‘I guess they’ll blow it up at this exhibition.’

Yoo-hyun nodded and got up from his seat.

He was about to move to the exhibition hall when he came out of the conference hall.

Kim Sung-deuk grabbed his arm.

“Come here for a second.”

“Why?”

“You’ll see if you come.”

He approached a woman who was sitting on a bench in the hallway, staring at the laptop screen.

The man next to her recognized Kim Sung-deuk first.

“Huh? Mr. Kim.”

“Mr. Kang, long time no see. How have you been?”

“Sure, sure. It’s hard to see you since you went to the political department.”

While the two were greeting each other, the woman was only tapping the laptop keyboard.

And a moment later.

“Phew, it’s done. Oh? Mr. Kim.”

The woman, who jumped up from her seat, grabbed Kim Sung-deuk’s hand and shook it, opening her mouth.

Her cheerful high-pitched voice echoed in the hallway.

“The color phone was good, right? They said it’s 200,000 won cheaper than Ilsung’s, right?”

“It’s not decided yet.”

“Hey, you have all the sources.”

“…”

Kim Sung-deuk was silent, but the woman was persistent.

“Equal performance, equal or better design, super low price. They’re going to dominate the full-touch phone market. Wow. But I heard this came out of nowhere…”

“I have no idea what you’re talking about.”

“Don’t be like that and spill the beans. Or did you prepare a secret weapon to hit Ilsung in the back of the head? I’ll write an article like that.”

“Ms. Oh, you’re still the same.”

“I’ll take that as a compliment for being pretty. But who is this?”

Oh Eun-bi, who answered cheekily, looked at Yoo-hyun.

Seeing her, Kim Sung-deuk chuckled and introduced him.

“He’s my junior. He’s a very smart guy.”

“Oh, then he’s the one who proposed the color phone?”

She was a reporter.

She seemed to have read the whole process at once.

Kim Sung-deuk didn’t even flinch and just smiled.

“That’s for later. I thought it would be nice to get to know each other first.”

“You know I’m expensive, right? I’ll give you the color phone history if you give me a network.”

“I’ll try to get an interview. Exclusively.”

“Deal.”

Oh Eun-bi, who snapped her fingers, looked up and down Yoo-hyun.

Then she exclaimed and reached out her hand.

“Oh, you’re a good person. Nice to meet you. I’m Oh Eun-bi from Uri Ilbo. I’m a friendly reporter. Hahaha.”

“I’m Han Yoo-hyun. Nice to meet you.”

Yoo-hyun, who took her hand, smiled lightly.

A little later.

Sitting on a bench in the corner of the main exhibition hall, reporter Oh Eun-bi skimmed through the articles she had posted.

<The status of Korea at the 2007 European Exhibition. Hansung and Ilsung overwhelm the world.>

<Hansung Electronics wins 23 innovation awards, including the highest innovation award, at the European Exhibition.>

<Hansung’s vice president Hyun Ki-joong, “We will dominate the market with ultra-slim LCD TV.”>

<Why is Hansung’s full-touch phone more popular than the innovation award-winning product?>

The reporter next to her, Kang Sung-yoon, asked.

“You posted a lot. Did you get anything from Hansung?”

“You know, senior. Our director loves Hansung. Well, I get some benefits too. But I can’t do it when you’re here.”

“Why are you like this? I’m clean.”

“No way.”

“Really.”

At Kang Sung-yoon’s words, Oh Eun-bi nodded her head and asked.

“But do you know what’s funny?”

“What is it?”

“This article has more views than all of Hansung’s combined.”

<Ilsung Electronics’ 60-inch ultra-slim TV, scheduled to be exhibited at the European Exhibition, stolen.>

Oh Eun-bi showed him the article and Kang Sung-yoon chuckled.

“That makes sense. But Ilsung must be upset.”

“What’s there to be upset about at Ilsung? It’s their fault for not managing it.”

“Still, if this had come out, they wouldn’t have lost to Hansung in TV. Anyway, those Chinese.”

At the word China, Oh Eun-bi perked up her ears.

Recently, China had been attacking Hansung Electronics a lot.

“Why China?”

“Just. I hate them for growing bigger this time. Maybe they did some sabotage?”

“Hey, there’s still a clear gap. Why bother doing that?”

“Is that so?”

“Yes. It’s not China.”

Oh Eun-bi thought it wasn’t China.

It was more likely to be Japan, who was losing to Korea, or Taiwan, who was closely watching Korea.

Of course, this was also speculation.

Oh Eun-bi shrugged her shoulders and looked ahead.

There was a video wall set up in an arch shape in front of the Hansung Electronics booth.

The huge screen made of 200 40-inch LCD TVs was enough to overwhelm the audience.

And in front of it, a man was talking to someone.

It was the face of Han Yu-hyun, who had greeted him with Kim Sung-deuk’s introduction earlier.

“Huh? Who is that guy?”

As she stared at Yu-hyun as if mesmerized, Kang Sung-yoon asked.

“Why are you staring at him like that?”

“Just, I saw him earlier and he’s there. Do you know him, senior?”

“No. How could I? I’ve been out of this industry for a while. Why? Does his face look familiar?”

“No. If I had someone like him around me, I would have been married by now. But that’s not it…”

Oh Eun-bi, who was about to continue, tilted her head.

There was something more curious.

Usually, people would be nervous or shy in front of a reporter, but he didn’t seem to be.

He looked rather confident.

Thinking back to the situation earlier, there were more than one or two strange things.

Her reporter’s intuition kicked in.

Oh Eun-bi was caught in a thought for a moment.

Kang Sung-yoon got up from his seat with his camera and bag.

“Boring. Well, I guess I’ll get going.”

“Are you leaving?”

“Yeah. I’ve seen enough of your face in Germany, right?”

“Take a picture of Merkel and come back.”

At Oh Eun-bi’s words, Kang Sung-yoon laughed and asked.

“Why? Do you want me to buy you dinner?”

“No way.”

He shook his head at his firm junior.

At that moment.

Yu-hyun was meeting a familiar face in front of the Hansung Electronics booth.

It was Seol Ki-tae, who was in the same team as him during the new employee training.

He was now working in the PR team.

“Wow, Yu-hyun. I’m so glad to see you. We must have a connection.”

“I know. I’m so happy. Are you here to film?”

“Yeah. There’s no better place to advertise Hansung than the exhibition. That’s why I came.”

As he said, the exhibition was the best place to showcase Hansung’s technology.

It wasn’t a waste of money to hang on to something that didn’t make money.

The public judged the company’s image through the new products that poured out at the exhibition.

In other words, the success or failure of the exhibition was the brand of the company.

It determined the sales volume for the next year.

That’s why they poured billions into the exhibition.

That’s why Hansung Electronics paid for the expensive travel expenses and supported the staff to film the exhibition products and broadcast them.

The time-lapse camera set up in front of it was for the same reason.

Yu-hyun praised his colleague.

“As expected. My colleague is talented.”

“Hey, can you do as much as you? You came to support the exhibition, right? It must be hard.”

“Yeah, well.”

“I actually…”

Seol Ki-tae chatted about this and that with a happy heart.

But that time was not long.

His boss came looking for him.

“Mr. Ki-tae.”

“Yes, manager. Yu-hyun, I have to go.”

“Okay. Go ahead.”

“I’m sorry. Let’s see each other again later.”

“Yeah. Good luck.”

Yu-hyun patted Seol Ki-tae’s back.

He must have come to the exhibition with a dream, but filming was not an easy job.

Wouldn’t he die if he had to do editing work all night?

Hang in there.

Yu-hyun raised his fist over his back as he walked away.

After sending Seol Ki-tae away, Yu-hyun looked around the inside of the exhibition hall.

The size of the exhibition hall was not much different from Hansung Electronics that he had experienced.

Rather, it felt more crowded with people.

Among them, the main and the flower of the exhibition, the TV section, had the most people.

The guide’s voice rang out.

“This is the ultra-slim LCD TV proposed by Hansung. The thickness of this product, which uses LED for backlight, is as you can see, the same as the diameter of a one-cent coin.”

“Wow…”

As she brought the coin next to the TV, exclamations burst out from everywhere.

Click. Click.

Camera sounds were heard from all sides.

Among them, there was also a live broadcast camera.