Chapter 135

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Translated by Heavenly Cat

Read it only at Novelbyu.com & Utoon.net

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“No, what kind of place is this where a plate of beef costs over 1 million won?”

“Ugh. Why did you come to such an expensive place?”

My son’s assets have now exceeded the trillion won level, but mom and dad still try to save every penny.

Even though they live in a nice house and can spend money freely, the frugality spirit once established doesn’t seem to disappear.

“This is a famous place. They say it has the best quality beef in our country.”

So it was also a place where ordinary people usually only eat on company cards.

But I rarely had opportunities to come to places like this.

I don’t particularly enjoy eating beef, and on days when I go eat meat with hyung, we always just have pork belly with soju.

“True. Chairman Hwang really loves pork.”

“Did you become quite close with our Chairman?”

“Don’t even get me started. I’m only a bit older, but he treats me so respectfully that I feel sorry sometimes. Isn’t he the person leading Korea’s top group?”

What I’m grateful to hyung for is that he often sends regards to my parents, and especially plays golf with my father, treating him like an older brother.

“Hmm. By the way, Jin-ho.”

“Yes?”

“When are you planning to introduce someone to us?”

“Introduce what?”

“That… the person you’re seeing.”

I thought for a moment what he was talking about, then I quietly turned my head to my younger sister beside me.

She was deliberately avoiding my gaze.

“Wow, the meat looks delicious.”

She tried to change the subject, but it was useless.

“Why did you only tell your sister and not us?”

Actually, I hadn’t told my sister either.

During a rare date, we happened to run into my sister and her boyfriend on the street.

The awkwardness at that time was indescribable.

Fortunately, thanks to Hye-rin’s social skills, the four of us had a meal together and could ease the awkward atmosphere.

It seemed my sister couldn’t hold back and told our parents.

“No, I wasn’t going to tell either. But because you kept showing that you’re dating, mom and dad kept pestering me.”

“I was showing it?”

“Don’t pretend otherwise. I’m your mother, you think I don’t know my son? Whenever your girlfriend texts, you’re totally beaming.”

“But when texts come from work, he has this completely stern face.”

“Right.”

“…”

I thought I maintained a good poker face, but I guess not at all.

“I was planning to introduce her at some point. But work is so busy that I can’t even date often. So I feel very sorry about that.”

“Right. Aren’t you the busiest person in Korea?”

“But… is she a good person?”

“Mom, I’ve met that unnie in person a few times. She’s really pretty. My company is close to oppa’s office, so our employees run into her sometimes. She’s super famous. At first I thought oppa was dating a celebrity.”

“Oh my. Really?”

Seeing my parents’ expectant eyes, if I continued here, I felt like I’d really have to call Hye-rin and make her come here.

“I’ll introduce her formally next time.”

“Okay, we’ll be looking forward to it?”

I glared at my sister, but thinking about it, it seemed like a good thing.

I was planning to introduce her at some point anyway.

Life is really unpredictable.

Just a few years ago, I was just a shut-in unemployed person, but now I’m a company president, and I’m dating a woman I couldn’t even have spoken to before, with marriage in mind.

“Oh right, oppa. Did that thing come out?”

“Hm? What thing?”

“The thing you said would definitely be fun. Rose of Sharon Game!”

“Ah. It came out?”

“Yeah. Yesterday. But it was really fun? It’s the most fun thing I’ve watched on Enflix. I couldn’t even sleep properly because of it.”

So that finally came out.

Even before production, it was the most eye-catching among Enflix works.

“Enflix? Isn’t that also a place Gwangwoon invests in?”

“Well, precisely speaking, we own it.”

“It’s a really famous company, and Gwangwoon owns it?”

“Dad, these days it’s harder to find places Gwangwoon doesn’t own.”

Honestly, it wasn’t to that extent.

It’s true the companies we acquired are doing well, but there are still giant dinosaurs we need to overcome.

Google, Microhard, Ampple, Bluezone, Gold Reagan, JP Medison, Bank of America, etc. There are still many companies that dominate the world.

Of course, our Gwangwoon’s weight class has grown tremendously, but to truly become the world’s best, there’s still a long way to go.

“Looking online, there are tons of posts praising Rose of Sharon Game. Like you said, oppa, looks like it’ll really succeed.”

I did pay special attention to Rose of Sharon Game, but it wasn’t like other major works that had a lot of money invested.

‘I wonder how well it’ll do.’

When I first saw Rose of Sharon Game, didn’t my intuition show me a vision?

An unbelievable sight of the whole world going crazy over Rose of Sharon Game.

————————————————————————————————————————

“They finally achieved global #1. They say it’s the fastest ever among Enflix works.”

It had been a week since Rose of Sharon Game came out. It had already achieved global #1.

“In addition to global #1, there’s high possibility it will achieve #1 in each country’s rankings as well. The popularity right now is unusual.”

“Is that so?”

“Yes. Have you watched it, President?”

“No.”

“If you have time, please watch it once. It’s really well made. It doesn’t give you a single second to rest, just keeps pushing.”

If the manager who rarely watches dramas is like that, it must be quite entertaining.

“K-culture has been having a boom year since last year.”

“Yes. Didn’t SPS hit a mega jackpot last year?”

Last year, SPS achieved Billboard #1 as the first Korean group, reaching the pinnacle of K-pop.

Thanks to that, Mega Lucky Entertainment’s stock, which we were investing in, also broke through its all-time high.

But this year, dramas were reaching a pinnacle.

Even Enflix headquarters was surprised by how phenomenal the box office speed was.

“But there’s one problem.”

“Problem?”

“Yes. At this rate, many predict Rose of Sharon Game will achieve #1 all-time box office. Then…”

“They’ll need to make Season 2?”

“Yes. But no matter how I look at it, it doesn’t seem like it was made with Season 2 in mind. Moreover, the director says he didn’t plan Season 2 from the beginning.”

They say he suffered extreme stress during production of Rose of Sharon Game.

Also, since he never even imagined it would achieve this level of box office success, he seemed to want to end it cleanly with Season 1.

“But Enflix strongly wants Season 2, and the director has refused for now.”

“Well, if the director says no, then there’s nothing we can do.”

“Yes. But they seem to want your opinion, President. Whether to try persuading once more or give up here.”

If that’s the director’s will, what can we do?

I understand Enflix’s feelings, but if Season 1 was ended so well, not making Season 2 might be better.

That’s a very good way to not damage the artistic quality…

“!?”

Right as I was thinking that and lightly touching Rose of Sharon Game with my hand,

A strong intuition shook me.

A vision of Season 2 following Season 1 with tremendous box office success unfolded before me.

“Manager.”

“Yes?”

“Please relay this to Enflix right now.”

“That they should give up on Season 2?”

“No. Tell them to bring in the director and get the Season 2 contract signed.”

“Pardon?”

The manager tilted his head.

“Didn’t you just say it can’t be helped so you’ll give up?”

“If viewers want it, it must be made. That’s a director’s mission, isn’t it?”

“…?”

“Oh, and after contracting Season 2, have them proceed with Season 3 as well. Make sure to tell them to make it happen no matter what.”

It seems our director won’t have time to rest for a while.

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“So I end up coming here after all.”

Close AI CEO Nick Mactman.

He had originally intended to come to Korea once, but the right timing hadn’t come as expected.

The biggest reason was corona.

Back then, even going outside the house was difficult.

But now, with overseas travel restrictions somewhat lifted through vaccines, he finally set foot on Korean soil.

“But the fact that vaccine comes from our master… haha.”

Master.

The sound was a bit strange, but it wasn’t wrong either.

Isn’t Gwangwoon the largest shareholder of Close AI?

Originally, they only had 45% equity, but because they paid money without question every time investment was requested, Gwangwoon now holds 70% equity.

“But it’s really strange. We made quite a lot of unreasonable investment demands, but they kept giving money without even an audit.”

Normally, when you distribute investment, you monitor if they’re using the money properly.

Because there shouldn’t be anyone wasting money.

But Gwangwoon had never touched them once.

“Considering their notorious reputation, it’s strange, right?”

“Well, that notoriety wasn’t from tightly controlling companies. It’s because of other things. Rather, companies Gwangwoon invests in have such strong financial backing that everyone’s happy.”

Plus, if you’re with Gwangwoon, you won’t be pressured by funding, and you won’t be exposed to competitor threats.

Because there’s no shortage of competitors that challenged Gwangwoon and fell flat.

“Still, I should meet them now. I can’t keep pretending not to know forever.”

As the largest shareholder, if Gwangwoon wants, they can change the direction of the business anytime.

Even if quiet now, they might suddenly change stance and start interfering with management.

So he needs to know now.

How they intend to run this company.

“But… we won’t disappear without a trace just because we got on their bad side, right? These are people who blow up an entire national economy just because someone was a little disobedient.”

“…”

Of course, the path to Gwangwoon headquarters felt like walking to the Demon King’s castle.

————————————————————————————————————————

“Welcome. This is our first time meeting like this, isn’t it?”

“Yes, President, thank you for welcoming us.”

Today, special guests visited our company.

Close AI CEO Nick Mactman and some executives had come all the way to our company.

“We were going to go to Gwangwoon headquarters, but they directed us here. Saying all important matters are decided at this securities firm…”

They seemed somewhat nervous.

Perhaps because it was their first time in Korea and we’re the largest shareholder.

“The reason we came in person this time is, although we could relay through video call, we’re about to reveal a project that could become a turning point for our company and perhaps the entire world. So we thought it was right to meet and report in person.”

Close AI had been continuously receiving investment from us.

Whenever they said additional investment was needed, I sent it without asking or questioning.

Because it wasn’t that large an amount for us anyway.

“What are you going to show us?”

“You must know about XPT-3 that we revealed early this year.”

XPT-3 was released to the public, but honestly, the response was lukewarm.

“We didn’t originally release it to receive great cheers. What should I say… Test purpose would be more accurate. Collect data, receive various feedback, and then make something proper.”

“So you made something proper?”

“Yes. It’s XPT-4.”

Mactman immediately demonstrated XPT-4 in front of me.

“…”

Actually, I didn’t have great expectations.

But excellent comprehension and reasoning ability, creative writing, math, coding, image input and analysis, and even voice conversation.

It far exceeded my expectations.

“…Is this really AI?”

“Yes. It’s all AI.”

It was clear that when released to the general public, it would cause tremendous waves.

I knew AI technology would greatly develop someday, but I never imagined it would develop this fast.

“But it’s too early to release to the public yet. First we plan to release version 3.5 to obtain more data, then release XPT-4.”

“For a fee?”

“Yes. Free users can use it with limitations, and paid subscribers can use it more. For that, many servers are needed.”

At this level of performance, I could support them however much they wanted.

Then I suddenly remembered a conversation I had with Mylon Tusk before.

“If this is released, competitors like Google won’t stay quiet, right?”

“Yes. Everyone will struggle desperately to catch up to our technology. But the majority will stop at just following… There’s high possibility Google will eventually catch up. No, they’ll far surpass us.”

Currently, Close AI was trying to make a system where AI could do everything from simple chat to image generation and video production.

“Google will initially hesitate, but their infrastructure is formidable. They have search engines and their data, and the advantage of NewTube. If they deep learn all that data to AI, they’ll probably create something amazing.”

So no matter how much we develop Gwangwoon and invest, it’s impossible to surpass dinosaurs that have already firmly established themselves?

“…?”

That’s when I felt something tingling, rising up from my core.

How to describe it.

It felt like something scolding me for giving up before even fighting.

“Anyway, the reason I wanted to meet you in person today was to hear about future plans. Currently Close AI is non-profit, isn’t it? Are you thinking of going public or…”

“There’s one thing I want to ask.”

“Yes?”

“About how much do you think would need to be invested to surpass a giant company like Google?”

“…Pardon?”

Mactman and the executives blinked.

“As I mentioned, Google’s infrastructure…”

“We’re not behind either. Just as there’s NewTube, we have PikPik, the largest SNS platform. Also, Enflix has vast amounts of video. Most importantly, Kangsung and Gwangwoon are dominating the semiconductor market, which is most important. Shouldn’t this be worth trying?”

“…”

“What I want to say is, while we’re leading in AI, let’s make aggressive investments to widen the gap overwhelmingly. So no one can follow. Is that possible?”

At those words, the executives murmured.

Mactman stared at me quietly, then spoke.

“It’ll cost a lot of money.”

“Fortunately, we have quite a lot of money.”

“It could become a gamble. Just pouring money in doesn’t guarantee technology development.”

I quietly brought my hand to the Close AI company logo.

“!?”

Then with an intense tremor, a very vivid vision covered my eyes.

Everyone was naturally using AI, and AI was covering all of our lives—an indispensable world was approaching.

But whether the flags planted around the world would bear Gwangwoon’s name, or the name of a giant company like Google, seemed to depend on my decision.