The Magician’s Memorial - Chapter 221



Only Krnovel

221. Time to choose (5)

A few days after meeting Rep. Choi Jae-seok.

He went to meet various politicians, and today the issue of KEPCO relocation finally surfaced.

“Vice Chairman, both the ruling party and the opposition party agree to the KEPCO region relocation bill proposed by Representative Choi Jae-seok.”

“The ruling party says that this government is emphasizing equal regional development to the point of considering relocating the administrative capital, but the opposition party also seems to agree.”

“It seems that they agree with the KEPCO relocation card as an excuse to stop the administrative capital relocation. An opposition politician was interviewed on TV and said that a similar effect could be achieved by sending public enterprises to the region even without necessarily relocating the capital.”

Although their goals were different.

Both the ruling party and the opposition party agreed on the relocation of KEPCO’s headquarters.

I didn’t need to know the details of what they were agreeing to, all they had to do was agree to the relocation of KEPCO’s headquarters.

“What is the response from KEPCO? Isn’t there extreme opposition?”

“Employees at headquarters are threatening to go on strike.”

“Are KEPCO employees the only people working in Seoul? There are many KEPCO employees working in rural areas as well. Use them to put pressure on KEPCO headquarters employees.”

“We will move local KEPCO employees through various channels. First, we will broadcast interviews with local KEPCO employees working in local news through friendly media outlets.”

It was a kind of splitting strategy.

Separating the gap between employees working at KEPCO headquarters and those working in rural areas.

It would be difficult if the entire KEPCO was involved, but KEPCO had more employees working in local areas than employees at the headquarters.

Employees at the Seoul headquarters are receiving preferential treatment.

Framed this way, it was possible to get a majority of local employees to agree to the headquarters move.

“Let’s try to influence public opinion as well. The more negative news about KEPCO comes out, the more public opinion will gain momentum for relocating the headquarters.”

“We will play a media role by claiming that excessive performance bonuses are received. We will also inform the media that KEPCO’s deficit is increasing.”

“That should be enough. Please also emphasize that the current deficit can be made up in one go by relocating the headquarters.”

“I will.”

We have made a rough plan for relocating KEPCO’s headquarters.

However, the planning director remained in his position as if there were still reports left.

“Do you have anything else to say?”

“Taewoo IT has completed the navigation application. The level of completion is such that it would not be difficult to commercialize it right away.”

“Really? I guess I’ll have to hear from Cheon Min-jeong directly.”

“I will call the vice president’s office right away.”

Now the planning director has gone out.

While I was working for a while, Cheon Min-jeong came to the vice president’s office.

“I heard a report that the navigation app has been completed. You have worked hard so far. We will pay a considerable amount of bonus to not only team leader Cheon Min-jeong but also his subordinates.”

“I didn’t work hard enough to receive a performance bonus. I just added an artificial intelligence algorithm and voice recognition to the existing technology and data. I also made the UI a little cleaner, but I created it quickly by combining many existing UIs. .”

It was really easier said than done.

However, it was clear that it would take more than a year for another company to create a navigation app of this level of perfection.

Since a project that would have taken a year was completed in one month, it was natural to pay performance bonuses.

“Just because it’s easy for Cheon Min-jeong doesn’t mean it’s easy for everyone else. Ultimately, it’s up to the users to evaluate the results. If we pay performance bonuses based on user evaluations, you won’t be complaining, right?”

“That’s true, but to be honest, it’s still an unfinished app. It needs more data to be able to utilize it properly. Right now, we’re just scratching the surface.”

It was Cheon Min-jeong who spoke while twisting her hair with her fingers.

It was a navigation app that looked high-quality to anyone, but in Cheon Min-jeong’s opinion, it seemed like an embarrassing piece of work.

“Why not update and improve it after it’s released? It’s better than any other navigation device that’s out there right now, so you don’t have to be ashamed.”

“Even if we want to update, it’s difficult to make improvements all at once because there’s not enough data.”

“In the future, smartphones released by Taewo Telecommunications will be sold with the navigation app created by Minjeong Cheon installed. We will also recommend that customers who visit Taewocommunication stores install the navigation app. Then, we will secure many customers in a short period of time. I can.”

Data ultimately varied depending on the number of users.

If Taewoong Communications took an active role, it could immediately become the top player in the navigation industry.

“Even if the number of users using Taewoo Telecommunications increases, there is not enough data. We need more specialized data. Data that can be extracted from people who drive professionally.”

“If you are a professional driver, do you mean taxis, buses, or trucks?”

“If we could collect a large amount of taxi driver information, we could immediately improve the navigation’s performance!”

Don’t say anything sooner.

All you have to do is collect the taxi driver’s information, right?

“Let’s find a way to collect data on taxi drivers. Is that all you need?”

“First of all, if we can only collect data on taxi drivers in the metropolitan area, we can greatly improve performance.”

“Let’s first contact taxi companies in the metropolitan area and then expand to taxi companies nationwide.”

Cheon Min-jeong’s expression became brighter, perhaps because she had found a way to solve the problem.

She smiled and grinned like a child with candy in her mouth.

“I’ll just head back now. I still have a lot of projects left to do, so I can’t stay away for long.”

“Go back quickly. If necessary, you can use the Vice President’s private car.”

“If I take the car at this time, it will actually be late. I’ll take the subway!”

It was Cheon Min-jeong, who left the vice president’s office with a rather dignified appearance.

But to my eyes, it was just as cute as a toddler walking.

Only after she took the elevator down did she see the head of the planning department sitting in the waiting room.

“Director, please come in.”

“I was told to wait and I was waiting.”

“After listening to Team Leader Cheon Min-jeong, he said that data from taxi companies is needed to improve the performance of the navigation system. First, try collecting data by cooperating with taxi companies in the metropolitan area.”

“We will sign a contract with a taxi company in the metropolitan area as soon as possible. But what should be the release date for the navigation system?”

“Proceed with the original plan. Performance can be improved through future updates. Even if it is released now, its performance is much better than most navigation devices.”

“Then we will start launching it with extensive advertising at the end of this month.”

It was the moment to start another new business.

In the case of this project, we did not have high expectations because the focus was on developing an autonomous driving system through data collection rather than generating profits.

* * *

Fifteen days have passed since the launch of Taewoo Group’s navigation app.

The head of the planning department and Taewoong Communications CEO Lee Joo-young visited the vice president’s office to report on the performance and situation so far.

“The response to the launch of the navigation app ‘Taewoo Map’ is very good. In particular, the satisfaction level of office workers who commute by car is very high.”

“I’m glad the response is good. How much has the number of subscribers increased?”

“Yesterday, the number of daily users exceeded 100,000. We are breaking all-time records every day, and we are continuously promoting it through TV and radio advertisements, so the number of daily users is expected to exceed 500,000 within this year.”

It was a smaller number than expected.

This was because smartphones had not yet become fully widespread.

Even though the iPhone is gaining sensational popularity among young people, and smartphones released by Samjin Electronics are also showing fairly high sales, it is not enough.

At least the smartphone penetration rate had to exceed 50%.

For that to happen, at least a few more years had to pass.

It was a moment when I understood why Cheon Min-jeong said he needed data from taxi companies.

“Please continue to carry out promotions to increase users. And how are negotiations with taxi companies going?”

“We are in a bit of a difficult situation. We concluded negotiations with several taxi companies in Seoul, but all of a sudden they all notified us that the negotiations were canceled.”

“If they give notice of cancellation of negotiations at the same time, it means that someone is behind them.”

“It seems like the head of the Seoul branch of the taxi union is playing a prank behind my back.”

“Why are you playing around?”

“It looks like they are trying to weigh in with KS Telecom. Not long after our visit, we received information that the Seoul branch manager met with KS Telecom.”

Are you going to charge a high price?

Well, no matter what you sell, you have to have a lot of competitors to be able to get a higher price.

Although it was a little annoying for us, we couldn’t blame the head of the Seoul branch of the taxi union.

Because he chose the direction that would benefit the taxi union as much as possible.

“In the end, I guess you’re asking for more money. Raise the price as much as you want and sign a contract.”

“They are asking for money in hundreds of millions of won. If we sign a contract with taxi companies across the country, at least billions of won or more will be involved.”

“It’s okay if it costs 10 billion won, so just sign the contract as quickly as possible. I don’t want to waste time on something like this. Think of it as buying time with money, and deal with it quickly.”

“Okay. Then, I will personally meet with the head of the Seoul branch of the taxi union and begin negotiations.”

It wasn’t something to worry about that much.

I used to think that collecting data from taxi companies was something I could do as long as I had enough money.

However, after hearing the report from the planning director who returned from the negotiations, I learned that this matter would not end so easily.

“Negotiations failed. The Seoul branch manager seems to have made up his mind to sell taxi data costs to KS Telecom.”

“Is the Seoul branch manager in a position to make such a decision on his own?”

“The Seoul branch manager controls call companies across the country. It is said that taxi drivers cannot go against his words because if they make a mistake, they will not be able to receive calls.”

In today’s era, there was a call taxi culture.

Before the regression, you could get a taxi dispatched through a smartphone app.

Nowadays, you have to call a taxi company or a call company to call a taxi to the departure location.

The Seoul branch manager took control of the call company.

It literally meant that he was in a position to reign over taxi drivers.

Of course, you can generate a lot of sales if you make a lot of long-distance calls, but the Seoul branch manager can control that at will.

“If we want to weaken the power of the Seoul branch manager, we must first remove the power of the call company.”

“It’s not easy. It’s run like a kind of cartel, and because it has a close relationship with the taxi union, even the political world can’t mess with it.”

“Let’s find out if it’s really untouchable. Meet with taxi drivers and collect complaints about the Seoul branch manager and the call company.”

We contacted taxi companies just to collect data.

But things were going strangely, and it was leading to a situation where I had to actively intervene.