217. the way he goes
1997 began in earnest.
Currently, H&H is overflowing with cash.
Hangul 97, released in December of last year, became one of the best-selling word processors in the world beyond Korea, and Hancell and Hanshow were also sold with great acclaim.
However, sales of Microsoft’s Excel and PowerPoint, which began to focus more on office programs than operating systems, unfortunately fell short.
Hoyoung also thought that Bill Gates was a formidable person.
However, Hoyoung and Bill Gates, H&H and Microsoft were not just competitors.
H&H and Microsoft are jointly producing (almost led by H&H), and the operating system ‘Chronos 98’, which is expected to be released around summer this year, is nearing completion, and as always, it is expected to bring great innovation.
Seniors from the computer research club and Ho-young prepared a small business with the cash overflowing at H&H.
“The most fun way to play a game is to get everyone together and play.”
No one can remember who first brought up this story, but it was just a business that started with this one word.
“Games are more fun when we play together. In particular, StarCraft can be enjoyed at its best when played together.’
Even Hoyoung, who had already enjoyed StarCraft, took it for granted.
So naturally, the business everyone was preparing for was the ‘PC room’ business.
Surprisingly, the word PC room was not first suggested by Hoyoung.
This proposal was the first thing that came out of Lee Jin-chan’s mouth.
‘It will develop into a space where young people in Korea can gather and play together, like a karaoke room or a billiard room. The name is a game room… No, don’t game rooms seem like places where you only go to play games? It’s a place where you can rent your own PC, so let’s call it a PC room!’
Everyone agreed that the word PC room stuck to their lips, and the plan to establish a PC room flowed swiftly.
Hoyoung and his seniors didn’t even think of making a small PC room.
‘Anyway, if we open the door, it is clear that small business owners will jump into small alley businesses on their own.’
Therefore, they rented an entire floor of a building near Gangnam Station, aiming for a large PC room with hundreds of seats.
In the case of a PC, there was no need to worry.
“Francis. I would like to ask for a bulk order of about 300 units with the specifications I am writing down. The case and the parts that go into it all have to be the same. By the way, I’ll order five separately. To the highest specifications.”
It was because I was able to solve it with a single phone call to Francis of Dell Korea.
Not to mention the operating system.
Because H&H was the company that made Chronos, the world’s best operating system.
Lastly, there was nothing more to worry about about the games that would go into the PC room.
It was because the game companies owned by H&H and Hoyoung were able to afford enough.
‘Not long ago, John Carmack also said that Quake World, which upgraded Quake to an online version, was nearing completion.’
A Blizzard game that boasts Diablo in StarCraft and Warcraft.
And H&H, represented by The Legend of the Wind, Linez, and the Land of Darkness under development.
Id Software and Zelda Online, which will release Quake World, and even Nintendo, which is in the middle of producing Mario Online World.
It was clear that as soon as Hoyoung and his seniors opened the PC room, they would be able to play numerous games, even if they only brought games from companies that were directly or indirectly connected to Hoyoung.
but only one.
There was another reason that delayed the PC room establishment business.
Hoyoung decided to gather with his seniors and have a meeting about this agenda before implementing the plan in earnest.
“So the reason why we are gathering like this now is to think about whether or not the business of PC cafes will have a good effect on our main business?”
“Yes. At first glance, being able to play PC games at a PC room for a certain fee means that you don’t have to buy a PC and games at home.”
They spent a long time and had an in-depth conversation.
As people in the industry, and as individual gamers, they presented all the possibilities they could offer.
After about two hours, they finally came to a conclusion.
Although it was a long meeting, it was a fairly refreshing conclusion.
“okay! Let’s just open it.”
They were people who were deeply involved in the PC business and the operating system business, but they were just gamers even if they died soon.
“Wouldn’t it be possible for at least one more person to play the game, and thanks to that, buy a PC at home and go the way of purchasing our program?”
“right. It is clear that PC rooms will go beyond simply playing games and become ‘places where young people go to play together’ like billiard rooms or karaoke rooms. Even though everyone has a PC at home, if friends gather together, a culture of going to PC rooms to enjoy games will be created.”
Hoyeong looked at the seniors discussing happily and nodded.
He didn’t say a word in this meeting.
Hoyoung knows the future, so if he guided him in the direction he knew, he wouldn’t have to spend so much time.
However, Ho-young believed that the seniors could make their own decisions, and in fact, the seniors presented Ho-young’s vision of the future.
Hoyoung’s job here is to suggest a plus alpha.
“Then, wouldn’t it be nice to sell food as well if you make PC rooms comfortable for people?”
“food?”
“yes. Starting with simple cup noodles and drinks, and if you can afford it, you can set up a kitchen and sell food. What.”
At Hoyoung’s words, the seniors thought for a moment, then clapped and agreed.
“Wow! Is that a great idea? If that becomes possible, won’t there be people who leave the PC room hungry while playing games?”
“this···. In a way, it could be dangerous. I mean people don’t come out of PC rooms.”
“ha ha ha! It really might be.”
Only Ho-yeong knew about this place.
It is the moment when Cup Noodles, a delicacy that is comparable to Jajangmyeon at a billiard hall, was born.
.
In less than a month, the PC room establishment process was almost completed.
Since it was entering a completely new industry called PC bang, there were no related laws, so it seemed a little difficult to get permission as a service industry.
However, with Ho-yeong’s countless personal connections, permission was obtained more easily than expected.
From PC room business to food sales.
Instead, there was a condition attached that in order to sell food, a sanitary inspection at the ward office was attached, but Ho-young readily accepted anyway, as he had no intention of selling the food that was already sold in a dirty way.
Just one day before the opening, Hoyoung looked around the store.
In fact, the PC room business was not a business that made a lot of money for Hoyoung.
How do you think of it as a little healing?
The PC room was a special space for him.
It was the first play space that came to mind when I went somewhere to play, and sometimes when I had to stay up all night and couldn’t go home, I spent time waiting for the first train in the PC room because I felt it was too much to pay for the inn.
And then he had a dream.
It could be called a luxury, but something I really wanted to have.
“Is this our reserved seat?”
“That’s right. President. PCs 1 through 5 cannot be used by regular guests. That’s why I took out the space completely.”
The man he hired as a manager lowered his head slightly to Hoyoung and said.
Hoyoung smiled at the sight of five PCs in a room that was not very wide closed with a sliding door and left the PC room.
In fact, although I had established a PC room, I did not have to worry about operation or management in the future.
But there was something that even Hoyoung hadn’t thought of yet.
Just how useful the reserved seat for realizing childish dreams of the past will be when everyone becomes married.
.
.
.
The station plaza agreement was concluded, but the situation did not go as easily as Ho-young thought.
On the surface, the current situation in South Korea looked really good.
Thanks to the strong yen that lasted for several years, Korea’s exports increased day by day, and its GDP finally exceeded 10,000 dollars.
Intoxicated during the yen’s boom, companies were accustomed to continuously taking out debt to grow their business, and the financial sector was in full swing by lending and receiving money from them.
Korea’s corporate debt ratio has begun to exceed 300%.
doing business with debt.
In fact, it can be said that it is a very simple story.
Once you run a business and start making a profit, you can raise dozens or hundreds of times more money than you owe, and you just have to pay it back.
But here comes the most important prerequisite.
that money is always there.
“The recent sales rate is a bit questionable?”
“What is the sales rate?”
“I fell a little, but… no matter what Because the sales rate fluctuates like a wave.”
The international situation has slowed down, exports have naturally decreased, and domestic consumers have been declining in purchasing power unknowingly, but most companies ignored this indicator.
It had been booming for 10 years, so I was confident that it would continue to be booming.
However, numerous foreign investors who suffered losses due to the recent baht shock in Thailand began to feel fear in the Asian investment market, and more and more investors began to shake their hands.
The Asian investment fear atmosphere that began to form in this way began to spread like wildfire.
The withdrawal of foreign investors, which started in Thailand, has passed through the Philippines, Indonesia, Taiwan and Hong Kong, and now it is right in front of Korea.
and on January 23, 1997.
Geary happened in Korea as well.
[14th in financial world. Bankruptcy of Hanbo Group]
An incident broke out that raised the spirit of companies and governments that had been consistent with complacency despite the strange atmosphere.
Hanbo Group is a group specializing in construction and manufacturing, and it was a company that enjoyed great success with apartment construction and steel business.
However, when there was not enough money to build the steel mill, he tried to raise money through various methods such as issuing corporate bonds and issuing borrowed notes, but in the end, he failed to prevent the bill from returning to business deterioration, so he submitted a stock waiver and went bankrupt.
“ha···.”
Hoyoung, who was watching this news in real time, let out a big sigh.
The bankruptcy of the Hanbo Group was, in fact, an incident that could be called a signal flare for the Korean IMF.
Of course, the Hanbo Group went bankrupt because of internal problems, rather than the influence of foreign investment or international political trends.
That said, Ho-yeong wandered around the United States and Japan, and no matter how much she tried to change things, the same things as in the past unfolded, and Ho-young pondered for a moment whether the flow of history could not be stopped.
However, Hoyoung shook his head and regained his composure.
“no. I didn’t think that everything would not be perfect anyway, with the one thing that blocked the reverse plaza agreement.”
If we cannot stop the flow of history by ourselves, can’t we at least turn the stream in a different direction?
“I’m sure there must be something I can do here…”
After thinking for a while, Hoyoung seemed to have made a decision.
No, it may have been foreseen in advance.
It was just a matter of when Ho-young would make up his mind.
Hoyoung was already an IT conglomerate, but now he decided to go beyond the framework of IT and move forward as a conglomerate with numerous affiliates.
