Real Man

Chapter 160:

Chapter 160

The editor-in-chief asked abruptly.

-Is this real?

“Yes. It’s confirmed. I got the interview, and the channel company gave me permission to publish it.”

-Okay. Oh, reporter, you did very well. Let’s keep it up.

A little later.

Another article from our newspaper heated up the online public opinion.

<Channel’s Laura Parker praises Hansung’s color phone. “High design quality.”>

-What’s the big deal? It’s just a common compliment.

-Do you know who Laura Parker is? This is a huge praise.

-The color phone must be doing well. Wow, the expected price is the same as the previous folder phone.

-They didn’t even praise their own channel phone much, did they? This must be better than the channel phone. I’m going to buy it right away.

Reporter Oh Eun-bi had only interviewed Laura Parker once in the past, when the channel phone was launched, and she had to fly all the way to France, where the channel company was located.

It was not a common thing for Laura Parker to show up at a German exhibition and endorse a specific product.

Especially, the full-touch phones of both companies were the main products to be shown at the same time.

The impact of this interview was tremendous.

Even ordinary people who were not in the industry knew that.

That was why positive comments were pouring in.

That was when.

“What is this?”

Reporter Oh Eun-bi frowned at the following comments.

-Why is there only news about Hansung? Are they trying to bury the theft case of Ilseong?

-They must be desperate to pay money and hire Laura Parker. Anyway, Hansung is no good.

-Hansung is famous for wasting money. Hansung of manipulation.

It was obvious that it was a work of comment bots.

Sure enough, when she looked at the past comments of the writers, they were all insulting Hansung.

“These cockroach-like bastards need to shut their mouths.”

Reporter Oh Eun-bi muttered, immersed in her work.

The bigger thing was that she could wipe out the bots in one shot, and make the exhibition itself a victory for Hansung.

If that happened?

Promotion and bonus, plus a hefty reward.

Her future as a reporter was bound to be smooth.

Reporter Oh Eun-bi, who had high expectations, checked the time.

The interview time was almost over, but Yoo-hyun hadn’t arrived yet.

“Why isn’t he here?”

At that moment, the words became meaningless as a tall man walked from afar.

Reporter Oh Eun-bi jumped up and raised her hand.

“Mr. Yoo-hyun.”

“Did you wait long?”

“Of course not. Did I say thank you enough?”

“Yes, you did.”

“I’ll do more. Really, really, overwhelmingly thank you. Hoho.”

It was a great hospitality remark.

He was the benefactor who got her the interview with Laura Parker.

She could do more for him.

Yoo-hyun smiled and said as he walked.

“Then please do well in our part’s interview.”

“Of course, of course. You are the stars of the color phone, so you have to.”

“That’s all I need.”

Yoo-hyun smiled calmly, and reporter Oh Eun-bi cautiously opened her mouth.

“Can I ask you a question?”

“Yes, anytime.”

“You know Laura Parker, right? Are you close?”

“A little.”

Reporter Oh Eun-bi pressed on, feeling that Yoo-hyun’s answer was insufficient.

“I can understand that you got the interview with Laura Parker. But how did you get her to talk about the color phone first?”

“I don’t know.”

“Strange. Did Laura Parker owe you something?”

“…”

Yoo-hyun stopped walking for a moment, and reporter Oh Eun-bi flinched.

“Your watch is pretty.”

“Haha… It’s cheap, what are you talking about.”

Reporter Oh Eun-bi smiled brightly as she heard Yoo-hyun’s next words.

Why did he say it was cheap when she asked if his watch was pretty?

Most people had this kind of reaction when it came to watches.

They often regarded watches as a symbol of success.

In that sense, watches were more than just luxury items.

That was why many luxury brands wanted to enter the watch industry.

But it was almost impossible for a brand without watch experience to break through the existing market and successfully settle in.

A long history proved that.

Yoo-hyun moved his steps and asked.

“Do you remember the market reaction when the channel phone first came out?”

“Of course. Luxurious? A luxury? Something like that?”

Reporter Oh Eun-bi, who had fixed her appearance, answered right away.

“But what about now?”

“Maybe it will be shaky when the full-touch phones come out, starting with the color phone. The specs are not bad, but it feels a bit old-fashioned now.”

“That’s right. That’s why luxury brands are reluctant to enter the phone business. It won’t be a luxury after a while.”

“But the channel phone is still a success. Well, it may not live up to Laura Parker’s reputation.”

“That’s true.”

As she said, the channel phone was more popular than the previous luxury phones that were only for a few extreme groups.

It wasn’t much, but it made a profit.

But Laura Parker didn’t enter the phone business for this much success.

The phone business was nothing more than a bridgehead for her.

That was when.

Reporter Oh Eun-bi clapped her hands. She raised her voice as if she realized something.

“Ah, that’s why you brought up the watch. So the next goal of the channel is digital watch, right? Right?”

“Do you think there is a possibility?”

“No… Honestly, it seems hard. It would be more or less the same as the phone.”

The high-pitched voice did not last long.

She had seen the watch phones brought by other companies, including Hansung and Ilseong, at the exhibition.

They were hard to operate, and there was a clear limit to cramming parts into that small space.

An expensive phone was evaluated as old-fashioned after a year.

The evaluation of a digital watch with relatively poor performance was bound to get worse.

“That’s right. We can’t go on like this.”

“Then what?”

“What can we do?”

Yoo-hyun asked a meaningful question.

Everyone knew that the future of digital watches was bright, but it was not an easy field.

Many electronic companies had tried to approach watches as electronic devices like phones and suffered losses.

And many watch companies had failed by just adding electronic functions to existing watches.

Laura Parker’s dilemma started from there.

She was a watch enthusiast and had dreamed of making digital watches the main product line of the channel in the future.

But she felt the limit clearly when she made the channel phone.

She might have thought it was impossible.

Reporter Oh Eun-bi, who had been thinking hard about Yoo-hyun’s question, shook her head.

“I have no idea. Is it possible?”

“It may not be now, but maybe someday?”

It was not just a casual remark.

There was a company that had paved the way.

A company that maintained its luxury brand and created a completely new category of market,

A company that made watches that could be recognized as luxury even after time passed.

It was Apple.

After that, when Laura Parker realized the identity of digital watches and jumped into the business, her partner company was Hansung Electronics, and the person in charge was Yoo-hyun.

So Yoo-hyun knew better than anyone what Laura Parker wanted.

Reporter Oh Eun-bi pounded her chest in frustration.

“You’re too vague. You’re making me impatient. So you showed Laura Parker something about digital watches and changed her mind, right?”

“Maybe.”

“So I’m curious about the details…”

“That’s not it…”

Yoo-hyun shrugged his shoulders and dodged the reporter’s words.

To be exact, he didn’t do it alone.

Senior Jang Hye-min and Han Jae-hee worked hard.

Thanks to them, who locked themselves in a hotel room and drew a digital watch design that Yoo-hyun wanted in a short time, he was able to persuade her more easily.

The digital watch design was very different from the existing ones.

There was nothing but a screen on the watch with a rounded square shape and no bulky outer part.

The watch strap that stuck like a magnet contained the channel’s sensibility.

Instead of the usual watch hands, they put beautiful scenery on the screen.

The channel logo was there, and so was the family photo.

There were numbers, and there were animation characters.

They made any design possible by abandoning the watch design.

A creative destruction that completely broke the frame of the existing watch.

A new category of product that could not be evaluated by the brand’s ranking or cheapness.

That was how Laura Parker saw the future of watches.

As they talked, they arrived at their destination.

“Ha, I didn’t get the answer I wanted.”

“There must have been an answer in the words.”

Reporter Oh Eun-bi felt empty, but soon shook off the feeling.

Anyway, the important thing was that he had persuaded Laura Parker.

And he didn’t even brag about his status.

It was a sight that was not seen from ordinary employees.

‘Is he really an employee?’

After parting with Yoo-hyun yesterday, reporter Oh Eun-bi nagged Kim Sung-deuk, the manager, and heard his story.

It was surprising that his rank was an employee, and he had not been working for half a year.

And he said it was the first time he met Laura Parker at the company.

And it was only a while ago.

But they became close enough to meet again at the exhibition?

Just an employee?

It would have been impossible if the seniors hadn’t opened the way.

“I’ll find out when I check.”

She would surely know when she heard the voices of the seniors who worked with him.

Reporter Oh Eun-bi tilted her head.

The interview place was a small conference room on the fifth floor of the exhibition hall.

She entered there with Yoo-hyun.

That was when.

A middle-aged man with a playful face shouted at Yoo-hyun.

His voice was so loud that reporter Oh Eun-bi’s body flinched.

“Yoo-hyun.”

“Manager, you’re here already.”

“Hehe! Of course. This is an important place.”

Reporter Oh Eun-bi blinked her eyes as she listened to the conversation between Yoo-hyun and the manager.

The man who was called the manager asked.

“Huh? Are you a reporter?”

“Ah, yes.”

“Haha. I’m Kim Hyun-min, the manager.”

“Yes. I’m Oh Eun-bi.”

As soon as reporter Oh Eun-bi answered, Kim Hyun-min, the manager, shouted again.

“Hey, what are you doing? Say hello.”

“Hello.”

At that signal, the people next to him greeted in unison.

Reporter Oh Eun-bi flinched again at the sudden situation.

When Kim Hyun-min, the manager, was about to step forward again, Yoo-hyun sorted out the situation.

“Manager, let’s sort it out first.”

“Oh, really? I have something prepared.”

Kim Hyun-min, the manager, scratched his head as if he was sorry at Yoo-hyun’s restraint.

Reporter Oh Eun-bi gave a hollow laugh at his appearance.

It was too different from the organization she had imagined while looking at the calm Yoo-hyun.

She calmed her mind and asked for permission before setting up her laptop.

“Just a moment, I’ll set it up.”

“Yes, yes. Take your time. We have plenty of time. Haha.”

A staff member from the PR team came over and helped with the recording and equipment placement.

Meanwhile, the noise continued.

“Manager, please don’t talk nonsense this time.”

“Don’t worry. It’s showing my face, how can I do that?”

“I don’t trust you.”

“Okay. I’ll do well.”

“Manager, shh.”

It was a neat room, but even a small voice was heard.

They didn’t know that, and they kept talking.

Reporter Oh Eun-bi opened her mouth, tilting her head.

“I’ll start the interview now.”

“Yes. We’re ready.”

“Just relax, don’t be nervous. The PR team will filter out most of it.”

“Really? Wow! I was so frustrated.”

The interview started like that.

They talked about the motivation for developing the color phone, what difficulties they had, and their impressions of the exhibition.

Reporter Oh Eun-bi quickly summarized the keywords while recording.

How did she feel while interviewing?

She definitely felt a close and strong bond.

They were brighter than any organization she had seen before.