Episode 137. Where the cash is piled up.
When I heard the director’s voice, I suddenly remembered the conversation I had with him at a drinking party in my previous life.
“River Responsibility.”
“Do you know what my dream is?”
“We’re going to change all the displays in the world to OLED.”
“Um… that’s a great dream.”
“haha. It’s going to be hard right now. It is expensive and difficult to make large. But eventually OLED will replace LCD. Just like LCDs replaced CRT TVs.”
At the time, I thought to myself that it wouldn’t be that far.
In the end, Hwang was right.
OLED’s unit price will come down and its size will increase due to repeated technology development.
Demand for LCD began to decline sharply.
All major display companies such as Hwanseong and RG have reached the point of declaring that they will quit the LCD business.
After leaving the lab and moving to a quiet place, I continued the conversation with Professor Hwang Jumin.
“I have a suggestion for Professor Hwang.”
“Before I make an offer, I have a question for you. Why are OLED experts in the Department of Mechanical Engineering?”
“OLED experts? haha. Thank you for saying that, but I’m not at the level to hear those words yet. It’s only been about a year since I started researching OLED, and I haven’t been able to properly start research because I haven’t received a budget. And my major is mechanical engineering. The main research task is to make micro-sized mechanical switches and apply them to displays. OLED research can be said to be a personal hobby in a way.”
Oh, I didn’t do OLED from the beginning, but I was studying mechanical engineering and fell into OLED.
Wearing clothes that didn’t fit the body wouldn’t have been able to produce good results.
So, a professor at a prestigious university would not have been too young.
“It seems to me that hobbies can make better use of talents than major majors. How about coming to our company and continuing your OLED research? We will fully support the budget and manpower.”
“..are you saying you’re going to scout me?”
Professor Hwang, who had been thinking for a moment, asked.
“If you see that you are scouting me, I think you are thinking of making an OLED display, right?”
“The display business is not just about OLED materials. There must be a separate line for making microelectrodes like LCD, but do you already have it?”
“Oh, I didn’t tell you that. There are other corporations that I have. It is a corporation called TM Mirae, and its subsidiary is TM Display.”
Professor Hwang’s eyelids trembled as if he was shocked by those words.
“Are you saying that you are the owner of the world’s largest display manufacturer?”
Since last year, TM Display has greatly surpassed other competitors in terms of production, sales, and net profit.
As the 8th generation line was completed this year, the gap widened further.
Now, 75% of LCD panels for TVs, 55% of monitors, and 99% of panels for tablet PCs are the world’s best display companies.
“Ha… I can’t believe it. It’s a huge company just by all means, but TM Display must have been owned by one person.”
You might be stunned to know that TM Logic, which recently made 800 billion won in monthly revenue, is also my company.
“..I’m really shocked that such a person comes to scout me personally.”
“That’s why I saw the professor’s skills highly. If you accept my proposal, you will be the director of TM Display OLED Lab.”
“Um… I appreciate the suggestion, but it’s too sudden…”
I added a word to Professor Hwang, who was hesitating.
“I plan to allocate 200 billion won to the annual budget, so there is no reason that you can’t do the research you want to do because you don’t have enough budget.”
At that, Professor Hwang opened his eyes.
“200 billion.. huh?”
“yes. I think OLED will be the core technology of future displays. In the next two years, we will make a tablet PC with an OLED display. For that to happen, this kind of investment is only natural.”
“..a little while ago, I had an argument with the dean of the College of Engineering to win the budget of 20 million won, but… talking about 200 billion won doesn’t feel real at all.”
“haha. It is a national loss for someone like a professor who can’t do research because he doesn’t have a budget of 20 million won.”
Perhaps he liked what I said, the corners of Professor Hwang’s lips curled upwards.
Even now, you are still weak at compliments.
“yes. So come to us. You will be able to do the research you want to do without worrying about money.”
Professor Hwang, who seemed almost relieved, said.
“It seems like a really good opportunity…but if I suddenly move, the position of the students who chose me will be in trouble…I’m a little worried.”
“If you are worried about your disciples, you can bring them. You’re going to need a lot of people anyway. If you need people as well as disciples, you can hire more people. You just need to make a proper OLED display.”
Professor Hwang nodded his head as if that was the final word.
“If you are willing to do that, there is no reason not to move. I will accept the position of head of OLED research center.”
I reached out to Professor Hwang.
“Take good care of me. professor. I look forward to the day when all displays in the world will be converted to OLED!”
Professor Hwang made a moved expression.
“Wow! Did you even go in and out of my mind? What you just said is exactly my dream…”
I had no choice but to know because it was a story you were talking about if you only went in for alcohol.
“haha. It seems like a dream, so our relationship is not normal.”
Professor Hwang held my hand and smiled.
“Iknow, right. I feel good too. I hope to go along well. CEO!”
The day after scouting Professor Hwang Jumin.
I got a call from Time Haner Group that they would sell TC Comics for $180 million.
As a result, all of the two largest comic book publishers in the United States came into my hands.
I called Damoyo Entertainment’s CEO Kim Soo-chan.
“Chief Kim. Not long ago, I bought TC Comics and Mobile Comics in the US.”
“TC, Mobile is a very famous comic book publisher. Are you in the comics business now?”
“haha. I didn’t take over the comics business itself. The purpose was to increase the content of D-Tab.”
“Ah, you were trying to make famous American cartoons available on D-Tab.”
“yes. But now that this has happened, I want to make a movie based on the manga.”
“Hmm… you’re talking about making a movie like Superman.”
“yes. In Mobile Comics, we can leave it to the boss to make it on his own as he has quite a bit of knowledge in the film industry, but TC Comics is not capable of doing so, so we have to make it ourselves. I want to leave that to Mr. Kim.”
“Are you saying that you should not only invest, but also try making it once..?”
“That is Damoyo Enter’s ultimate goal. However, making a Hollywood movie requires a lot of know-how, so you can use a professional production company. But please start with the Batman series.”
President Kim put on a shaky expression.
“If it’s Batman, it’s an original that was made into a movie by Haner Brothers and failed properly. Are you telling me to do it again?”
“haha. That’s not a problem with the original story, it’s a problem with the director. It’s appropriate for Batman to appear as a heavy dark hero originally, but in the Batman movie made by Haner Bros. In that sense, I recommend a director. Christopher Elan, please work with him.”
“Christopher Elan? That Memento film director?”
Memento.
It is a thriller made in just 25 days with a budget of 9 million dollars for a Hollywood movie.
The main character is a man suffering from short-term amnesia who remembers only 10 minutes of the past, and he edited it in reverse with the flow of time, sweeping the screenplay awards at several film festivals.
It was a decent film at the box office, making a total of $30 million, almost three times the production cost.
“Right. Please hire that director and make a Batman movie.”
“Memento was definitely a masterpiece. However, the films that the director has made so far are only low-budget films with a production cost of less than 10 billion won. I’m a bit worried about whether I’ll be able to shoot a blockbuster movie that costs well over 100 billion won…”
I understand President Kim’s concerns.
Christopher Elan is a famous manager who later hit home runs in three consecutive bats from ‘Batman Begins’ to ‘Batman The Dark Knight Rises’.
If you were to rank the people who must be recruited, it was the person at the top.
“It will be good. The director is a director with a lot of talent for noir and crime films, and Batman is an original that fits that atmosphere well. So, don’t worry about that and make sure to hire the director. I think Batman and Christopher would get along very well.”
“..If it’s the CEO’s sense, I have no choice but to believe it. Okay. We will hire Christopher Elan.”
“But how are we going to fund it? After investing in Harry Potter, the Sorcerer’s Stone, and The Lord of the Rings, which you mentioned earlier, we have accumulated less than $50 million in Enter’s funds.”
“Everyone, we will send you an additional 300 million dollars, so you can use that.”
“..there are rumors that cash is piled up like a mountain in the headquarters, but it seems to be true.”
“haha. The subsidiaries are working hard. The total revenue is over 500 billion won per month. Of course, a large portion of the revenue comes from the tablet business.”
President Kim said with a tired face.
“The revenue per month is more than the revenue we earn in a year at our entertainment…”
“The enter is doing well. You made about 240 billion won last year alone. This year will be even better.”
“but. It is too early to judge, but it is unlikely that the films we invested in this time will do poorly at the box office. I was watching it in the middle of making a movie, and it felt good.”
“Absolutely. It was taken by me. It’s going to be amazing.”
“Actually, I believe in that the most. haha.”
“Then please contact TC Comics and start making the movie right away.”
#Da together center, meeting room of S-Project division.
The day before, Daewon received a call from hyung that he had gathered all the necessary personnel for the S-Project.
I decided to have a meeting today.
As I entered the conference room, Sang-a, who had come from the tablet division, raised her hand and pretended to know.
After giving thanks with a wink, I looked at the faces of the project members.
Most of them were first-timers.
Except for ivory, there was one person who was familiar with it.
I approached him and talked to him.
“A professor! How is school and how are you here?”
Seongwook Han, a professor at Seoul National University, who helped customize the drill core at TM Logic, must have been here.
A professor replied with a displeased face.
“It’s all because of you.”
“Because of me?”
“okay. How do you come up with such a fun idea to make people’s hearts pound? When you gave out the blueprint for the drill, I was shocked, but I didn’t intend to stick with it until I quit my professorship, my main job. But this time…”
One professor sighed and continued.
“Ha…I’m going to make a product that is as small as a mobile phone so that I can access the Internet anytime, anywhere? Just imagining it gave me goosebumps. Do I have the guts to take part in such a historic project that changes the world? It took me less than two days to decide to give up my professorship as I encouraged Byeong-hoon.”
He was such an outstanding person in the field of semiconductor engineering that he published a thesis on the cover of a famous academic journal Science at the young age of 30.
Hearing that such a person would join, I felt like I had gained thousands and thousands of horses.
“haha. That’s right. You have chosen well. This project will be successful. You will go down in history as the person who developed the world’s first commercial smartphone.”
“I didn’t come for that. I just want to make that smartphone with my own hands.”
“Would you mind? Anyway, thanks for joining. Please take good care of the S-Project semiconductor sector in the future.”
“I wish you well too. CEO! Will you give me a lot of support?”
“sure. If you need anything, just tell me. Whether it be equipment or people, we will fill it up immediately.”
“okay. That’s it.”
After meeting with a professor, I exchanged greetings with other project members.
“I’m Yoo Kang in charge of the communication team.”
“This is Kim Jung-yu in charge of the touch screen team.”
so say goodbye
stood in front of the members.
