The Magician’s Memorial - Chapter 179



Only Krnovel

Episode 179 Best Defense (3)

French restaurants place great importance on dining etiquette.

Dress code, table manners, etc.

But we continued our conversation, ignoring all manners, and the restaurant owner didn’t have any problems.

“The Romanée Conti you ordered has arrived. “This is the Great Vintage of 1990, when there was a bumper crop.”

“Please give me a few more bottles of the same thing.”

“I will prepare right away.”

We ignored all manners and poured wine into our mouths.

When the restaurant owner saw this, instead of frowning, he smiled broadly.

If you’re drinking wine worth over 10 million won a bottle like beer, what’s the importance of dining etiquette?

“How much did we just talk about?”

“We were talking about an era of carbon neutrality coming in the future. “If the use of fossil fuels continues to increase, the Earth will surely come to an end!”

“So, it will be essential to develop cars that run on electricity rather than fossil fuels.”

“I have been interested in electric vehicles for 10 years. “Electric vehicles must be commercialized as soon as one year to prevent the apocalypse!”

Musk seemed like a conspiracy theorist claiming false stories.

However, in my second life, I knew that his story was not a conspiracy theory, and I personally felt that the Earth’s temperature was rising significantly every year.

“I am also very interested in electric vehicles, and we invest more than $1 billion every year in the battery business, which is an essential component of electric vehicles.”

“I didn’t know the pioneer. I’m sorry for raising my voice earlier. “I made the mistake of not knowing that he was such an awake person.”

It was Musk whose tongue was twisted.

But his eyes were full of sincerity.

Should I say that sincerely? Rather, his eyes were closer to madness.

“Although we are investing heavily in batteries, it is expected that it will take at least a few more years to commercialize electric vehicles.”

“To be honest, even if electric vehicles are commercialized, it will only delay the end of the Earth. So it is time to consider migration to a new planet.”

“Are you talking about terraforming Mars?”

“wow! It’s been a long time since I’ve had someone who knows my heart so well. This is a first for anyone on Wall Street! Like a hyena, there is someone on Wall Street who only cares about money and is worried about the future of the Earth! “I was really surprised.”

Is it because you’re drunk?

Musk showered praise to the point of excessiveness.

I’m so glad that my face is red from the alcohol.

“Terraforming Mars is too far into the future.”

“It’s definitely not a story about the distant future. Apollo 11 landed on the lunar surface in 1969. “And 30 years have passed, and technology is at a standstill.”

“That’s because there was no investment in the space industry after the Cold War.”

“So, that’s right. People seem to mistakenly believe that technology falls from the sky. “We forget that technology only progresses if we pour attention and money into it.”

“Even if you get money invested, it will be difficult to get attention.”

“I’ll get attention, even if it means I have to be a clown!”

It looked quite different from the image of Musk I knew.

I checked his details without realizing it, and it turned out to be the Musk I knew.

A genius who possesses two S-class abilities, and an oddball with unexpectedness that people don’t expect.

“Then I’m in charge of the money. Whether it’s the space industry or the electric car industry, give it a try. “I will invest as much money as you want.”

“It is very reassuring to hear that SAVE Investment Company is providing active support. Still, I plan to start a business first with the funds from the sale of PayPal. “You can start with just about $100 million.”

$100 million was by no means a small amount.

However, the business he wanted to start was a space-related business, not a general IT business.

Even though semiconductors and LCDs were businesses that required a lot of initial capital, they could not be compared to the space business.

“$100 million is not enough. I invested $2 billion as an initial investment. “If it’s at that level, wouldn’t you try something?”

“The proceeds from the sale of PayPal are $2 billion. “You’re investing that much in me?”

“The initial investment is $2 billion. “I promise to invest at least $10 billion over 10 years.”

“… … If I had $10 billion, I could do anything I could think of. However, no matter how angel investors are, they do not just give money. How much stake do you want?”

Musk immediately came back to his senses.

Musk was so fine that he looked embarrassed at the bottles of alcohol piled up on the table.

“40% of the shares. “I think this is a reasonable offer.”

“A 40% stake is not a large stake when investing $10 billion in a business that hasn’t even started yet.”

“There is one more condition. In the case of the electric vehicle business, we hope to establish a joint venture in which each company will share 50% of the shares. “We have no choice but to make this suggestion since we have already invested heavily in the battery market.”

The electric vehicle market was a business that had not yet begun.

In some ways, it could be seen as a less realistic business than the space business.

Therefore, Musk’s worries did not last long.

“I will do that. “What I want is the space industry, and developing electric cars is nothing more than developing technology for terraforming Mars.”

“Electric vehicle technology is essential for Mars exploration.”

“Electric vehicle technology is honestly just the beginning. Isn’t rocket technology more important? “Terraforming Mars will become possible only if we reduce the astronomical amount of money it takes to launch a single rocket.”

Before we knew it, the subject had returned to Mars.

It was Musk who looked like someone who really wanted to go to Mars.

“To reduce the cost of rocket launch, wouldn’t it be possible to develop technology to recover the launch vehicle? “Even if we can recover only the first launch vehicle, launch costs will be reduced by at least 20%.”

“If we could recover the launch vehicle and reuse it more than 10 times, the cost of rocket launch could be reduced by more than half!”

Musk was quite surprised.

Is this surprising?

The projectile recovery technology is a technology you created.

Of course, it is not now, but in the distant future.

***

After finishing my work in the United States, I returned to Korea.

Although it was a short schedule of only 2 nights and 3 days, the income gained was by no means small.

We established a contact with Musk, who will lead the space and electric vehicle businesses in the future.

It was a business trip worth at least tens of billions of dollars, as I became friends with the founders of YouTube, which would become mega-companies.

“Vice President, thank you for your hard work! You must have had trouble adjusting to the time difference, but you went to work instead of going home. Think about your body. “They say the chairman is back, but if the vice-chairman’s condition worsens, the entire group will be shaken.”

“I slept more than usual. Look at your face. “Hasn’t it gotten better?”

“That’s true.”

I slept soundly without waking up even once during the long-distance flight.

It was like relieving all the fatigue that had accumulated so far on the plane.

“Nothing special happened while I was in America, right?”

“There is nothing major to report. What is special is that CocoaTalk and Facebook are showing steady growth.”

“What is the response to Samjin Electronics launching a smartphone?”

It has been a while since sales of smartphones released by Samjin Electronics began.

It’s time for customer reaction. Of course, I know roughly what the reaction will be.

“The response is very poor. Compared to the iPhone, optimization is poor, and the battery heating issue has not been resolved. “It seems like it was really released for experimental purposes.”

“Still, we have a lot of loyal customers, so aren’t we seeing a good amount of sales?”

“If you look at sales volume alone, it is by no means a failure, but there are many customers who return to feature phones or purchase iPhones due to performance issues.”

Samjin Electronics released a smartphone called the so-called trash phone.

But I never laughed.

Samjin Electronics was the place to develop excellent smartphones in a short period of time by accumulating such experiences.

“The number of smartphone users will increase day by day. This is very good news for us. “I hope CL Electronics will enter the smartphone market quickly, but I haven’t heard any news.”

“CL Electronics is still focusing on feature phones. “The smartphones released by Samjin Electronics are receiving a poor response, so I don’t think they have any intention of entering the smartphone market.”

“That’s a shame. By the way, Taewo IT’s sales must have increased significantly.”

The growth of CocoaTalk and Facebook was scary.

In particular, in the case of CocoaTalk, Taewo IT held a significant stake, which greatly helped increase sales.

“Taewoo IT’s sales are sales, but the operating profit margin is significant. In terms of operating profit margin alone, we are making more money than Taewoo Engineering & Construction. In particular, a huge amount of money is flowing in through gaming platforms that have successfully entered the Chinese market.”

“As expected, the Chinese market is a bonanza. “It’s a bonanza with only a few years left.”

“What do you mean by that?”

Now the Chinese market is close to a bonanza.

Due to the huge population and high economic growth rate, it was possible to make a lot of money if you succeeded in entering the market.

However, a closed policy will soon be implemented, and in the case of games, it is common for games to be unable to enter the Chinese market due to lack of approval.

So, I had to earn as much as I could.

“You never know when the Chinese market will change. So, we need to introduce Korean games into China now as much as possible.”

“Most Korean game companies are entering China through Taewoo IT. “Every day, we are receiving inquiries from small and medium-sized game companies about expanding into China.”

“Thank goodness.”

“And Taewo Semiconductor’s deficit has decreased significantly, so the amount of money going out has decreased. Rather, we are wondering how to use the excess retained earnings.”

How good does that sound?

Are you worried about money overflowing?

“Now that CocoTalk is on track, we need to enter the fintech field.”

“Do you plan to enable financial transactions through CocoTalk?”

“Is there any business that is as profitable as the commission business? Moreover, everyone who uses a smartphone becomes a customer, so there is no reason not to do so. And we have already created all the technology.”

I had idea meetings with Cheon Min-jeong every day.

Among them, there were many fintech-related ideas.

In order to commercialize the idea, I mobilized experts from Taewoo IT and Taewoo Securities and directed technology development.

“As it is a financial-related business, there are many aspects to consider. “We will release it after considering all legal matters.”

“It may also be a politically problematic area. It won’t be a big problem now that the administration is at its end. “Please make sure we can release it as quickly as possible before the regime changes.”

“Vice Chairman, but if the regime changes, problems may arise. “I am concerned that they are creating an excuse to get caught in the political world for no reason.”

He was the head of the planning office who was worried about election funding issues.

Since Taewo Group was the only group that did not provide election funds, there was a high possibility of a targeted investigation, and in the case of fintech, there were many problematic factors.

“You can’t make soy sauce because you’re afraid of maggots. If a problem arises, just solve it and that’s it.”

“All right. Then, we will try to expedite the release as much as possible.”

Now is the time for the presidential election to blow.

I watched with interest to see if this time, the history as I knew it would proceed.