The Magician’s Memorial - Chapter 222



Only Krnovel

222. Good Monopoly (1)

two days later.

I visited Captain Kang’s office.

Like the Planning Director, Captain Kang was also ordered to investigate the head of the Seoul branch of the taxi union.

“How did you collect some data?”

“To collect data, not only I, but all of the staff traveled around in taxis all day. Thanks to this, we were able to collect quite a bit of information. To summarize the collected data briefly… ‘The head of the Seoul branch is an asshole.’ It’ll be fine.”

It was the first time that harsh words came out of Captain Kang’s mouth.

He has met many evildoers while working with me, but he has never reacted as strongly as he did now.

“You go around doing so many bad things that all the swear words come out of Captain Kang’s mouth.”

“He was worse than the military. He made it a point to use taxi company employees as unpaid workers, cut their salaries for participating in his mother’s funeral, and made long-distance calls to people he was close to, thus taking advantage of the backbone of taxi drivers. It’s a parasite.”

“It’s unheard of for someone to take a pay cut just because they attended a funeral.”

“They were cutting my salary for ridiculous reasons. And they said they were putting the cut salary into their own pockets.”

I didn’t understand it based on common sense.

The head of the taxi union’s Seoul branch naturally had to stand on the taxi drivers’ side.

I thought that the reason he rejected Taew Group’s offer and joined hands with KS was not for the taxi driver’s benefit, but for his own personal benefit.

“What does he do and have that kind of power? I know he oversees a call company, but how did he get to that position?”

“The Seoul branch manager’s name is Cha Bong-hoon, and he is the son of the president of the largest taxi company in Seoul. The reason he joined the union was to help his father take control of the union, and he created a cartel with taxi companies in the Seoul area and turned the union into his kingdom.”

“If the taxi union were a kingdom, taxi drivers would be treated as commoners. They are exploiting commoners through reduced salaries and even unpaid work to fill their coffers.”

Even though I said it, it was a childish analogy.

However, taxi drivers who are actually suffering will never think of the current situation as childish.

They were taxi drivers who had to overcome childish abuse of power and drive for the sake of themselves and their families.

“Other taxi companies can also be seen as victims in some way. Branch Manager Cha Bong-hoon was even collecting compensation from small and medium-sized taxi companies.”

“Is that possible?”

“They were harassing small and medium-sized taxi companies by threatening to go on strike if they didn’t pay or by not giving them work through call companies.”

I couldn’t empathize much with things that weren’t my job.

Before my regression, I changed into that kind of personality because no one sympathized with me when I was having a hard time.

What is the importance of empathy?

It was important that Branch Manager Cha Bong-hoon was a hindrance to what I was trying to do.

“If the system where call companies monopolize work is destroyed, Branch Manager Cha Bong-hoon’s power will collapse.”

“That said, there is little possibility at the moment. Taxi drivers or small and medium-sized taxi companies who felt unfairly created new call companies, but they could not survive even a few months and disappeared due to the cartel led by Cha Bong-hoon.”

It was Cha Bong-hoon, who already had great power.

Even if a few people band together to oppose him, they will be destroyed by the cartel he created.

Is it called a cartel for no reason?

No matter how many people gather together, they cannot win, so it is a cartel.

The best way to get rid of a cartel is to replace it with a bigger cartel.

“We need to change the system where call companies monopolize work.”

“Are you trying to take over the company? Even if you do, you won’t be able to use your power as long as Cha Bong-hoon is in power.”

“Why would a call company have power? They became powerful because people used taxis through a call company. So, if we just create a way to call a taxi without going through a call company, Cha Bong-hoon’s power will be destroyed at once. I can.”

“Is there such a way?”

Before the regression, call companies were a relic of the past.

This was because it was easier and faster to call a taxi through a smartphone app.

I thought this service would start on its own over time.

It was clear that if Taewoo Group entered the taxi calling service, it would be criticized as an octopus-style expansion.

“Hmm, Captain Kang should become the president of a taxi calling service company.”

“Are you saying I am not capable of running a company? I especially know nothing about the taxi industry.”

“The company management and system will be taken care of by Taewoo Group. Captain Kang only needs to deal with people he is good at.”

It was a way to avoid being seen as an octopus-style expansion.

It would have been a problem if the Taewoo Group took the initiative, but if they had the CEO of Baji sit down and pretended to provide consulting for the company, there would have been no problem.

“But that’s because I don’t think I’ll be able to make good sales if I become the CEO of the company.”

“Don’t worry about sales. It doesn’t matter if you make a loss. No, just make a loss. It’s annoying if you make a surplus for no reason.”

Taxi data was needed, not sales.

There were countless ways to make money other than the taxi hailing service, and Taewo Group had many affiliates that generated hundreds of times more sales than the taxi hailing service.

“If profit is not the goal, what purpose can you run the company for?”

“You could say that the goal is to get as many taxi companies and drivers as possible to use the taxi hailing service. As you know, the taxi union is not an easy place. There may be armed protests, and there may be retaliation.”

“Then that’s a good thing. I’m also an expert in that area, right?”

It was Captain Kang who actually liked it because they said an armed conflict could occur.

Because Captain Kang underwent combat-like training for more than 2 to 3 hours every day, he possessed physical abilities that were incomparable to those of taxi company union members or service gangsters.

“Today, we will form a corporation by merging a small taxi company and a call company. We will register Captain Kang as the president of the corporation. A few of Captain Kang’s employees will also come to work together. The Taewoo Group will take care of the rest. Let’s deal with it.”

“Should I step down from my position as CEO of the security company?”

“No. You become the head of two companies at the same time.”

“I will become the most successful person among my classmates.”

It was Captain Kang who spoke in a joking manner.

However, his business will prosper more than he thought.

Even if you add in not only your peers, but also your seniority and successors, you will have the largest company.

* * *

After the conversation with Captain Kang.

I stopped by Taewu IT and met Cheon Min-jeong.

I explained to her what I thought was a taxi hailing service.

“So, what you’re saying is to create a service that simply calls a taxi through a smartphone app.”

“The current call taxi system can save work for companies, but we are introducing a system that allows priority dispatch on a first-come, first-served basis or in order of distance, and including a system that provides priority notification of fares to the destination and a system that provides taxi driver information, etc. “We are trying to create an app that will satisfy both taxi drivers and customers.”

“It can be made, but to use it properly, both the taxi driver and the customer must have a smartphone or a device capable of similar performance.”

In the customer’s case, there was no problem.

Because only people with smartphones can use the taxi calling service.

“Wouldn’t it be possible to make a device that can only use taxi calling services inexpensively?”

“I don’t know much about device manufacturing because it’s not my area of ​​expertise, but I think I can make one for 30% of the price of a smartphone. Or, I’ll make a program that allows you to receive a taxi call service with a feature phone.”

“Is it possible to create a program that is compatible with feature phones and smartphones?”

“It’s not completely impossible. Just like a call company does, you can insert an intermediate server to transmit information from the smartphone to the feature phone. It may increase operating costs a little.”

There was no need to worry about cost.

If we just stick with using it as a stopgap measure for a few years, smartphones will become popular.

“Please make it like that. How long can this be done?”

“Is it possible to make it linked to a navigation app? Then I think development time can be shortened and better performance can be achieved.”

“Of course, that’s okay. Is there any field that needs a navigation system more than a taxi?”

“Then give me one month. It only takes 15 days to create a smartphone app, but I need a month to make it compatible with feature phones.”

I believed it because it was Cheon Min-jeong’s words.

If someone else had told me that he would create a smartphone app in a month, I would have screamed and asked if he was scamming me, but I could believe it because I had already seen Cheon Min-jeong’s ability with my own eyes.

* * *

While Cheon Min-jeong was creating the app.

It’s been a long time since I called Taewoo Electronics’ ace manager Seokjun Lee to the vice president’s office.

ah! I was promoted two levels last year, so I should now call him Manager Seokjun Lee.

“Vice President! It’s been a long time since I last greeted you.”

“Manager Lee Seok-jun, you’ve been doing well too, right? I feel dignified now, probably because I’ve become manager.”

“Oh, no. I am the youngest among the managers, so how can I feel dignified?”

It was Manager Lee Seok-jun, a typical public figure.

It looked like there was a screw missing somewhere, and his speech was slurred.

The level of skill he possessed was certain. In particular, Manager Seokjun Lee was a person who had a natural talent for creating new devices using existing parts.

Thanks to him, we were able to create the first flip phone, InnoPhone.

He was a person who knew the technology of Taewo Group better than anyone else, and was especially suited to develop devices to be used as a temporary measure.

“I’m trying to make a device specifically for taxi calling applications. How can you make it?”

“It is possible to create a device that can only use a specific application without any other functions.”

“Let me explain the features you need.”

As it is an app-only device, several features had to be added.

As a result, a gap arose between price and performance.

Adding features increased the cost of manufacturing the device, and excluding features made it impossible to utilize the app’s functions properly.

“Vice President, is it absolutely necessary for devices to be equipped with everything from liquid crystal display to memory?”

“How can you check information if there is no liquid crystal display? The same goes for memory.”

“Most taxis use navigation. By using the navigation screen and memory, you can create an app-specific device at a very low price.”

“Are you saying you want to make a device like an accessory that plugs into a navigation device?”

“That’s right. The best way seems to be to make an external device and plug it into the navigation device to run the app.”

As expected, Taewoo Group had many talented people.

Manager Lee Seok-jun was able to immediately find an answer that even I had not thought of.

Even if he was not a genius like Cheon Min-jeong, he was also a person who fell into the category of genius.

“Proceed like that. Development costs, manpower, facilities, etc. Develop as quickly as possible using everything you need. And even plan mass production.”

“We will finalize all plans within a month!”