The Conglomerate Family Became A Villain [EN]: Chapter 160

162. Return the Key (3)

When Sarah returned to Seattle, Jung Hyun-woo was collapsed at his desk.

“Charlie!”

She was greatly alarmed and shook him, screaming.

“Charlie! Charlie!”

Then, Jung Hyun-woo flinched and opened his eyes.

“Sarah?”

Sarah breathed a sigh of relief when he opened his eyes.

“Ha… What on earth are you doing? Collapsing on your desk like that.”

Jung Hyun-woo rubbed his eyes, looked up at her, and said,

“I, uh, fell asleep while looking at documents.”

Sarah had seen him collapse in front of his computer while working several times. However, this was the first time he had collapsed on a pile of documents inside the president’s office, so she mistook it for a major incident.

“Sarah, what’s wrong?”

Ann and the staff, who had rushed in upon hearing Sarah’s voice, entered the president’s office.

“Should we call the police?”

Sarah waved her hands at them.

“It’s okay. I mistook Charlie sleeping for him fainting.”

Ann and the staff also breathed a sigh of relief, just like Sarah.

“Oh, is that so?”

“That’s a relief.”

Jung Hyun-woo waved his hand at the gathered people.

“Alright, alright. This isn’t a zoo.”

Sarah frowned as she looked at the cot placed on one side of the president’s office.

“Charlie, you didn’t go home.”

Jung Hyun-woo got up and said,

“Sarah wasn’t here, and there was a lot of work, so I slept here for about two days while working.”

Sarah frowned at his words.

“How can you overwork yourself like this!”

“I couldn’t help it because there was too much work.”

Even though Jung Hyun-woo had completely excluded coding from his duties, he was still working overtime every day.

“Let’s just suffer for one year.”

“So, are you thinking of retiring next year?”

Sarah thought that the intensity of work would not decrease unless Jung Hyun-woo retired.

‘He’s constantly increasing projects…’

With the success of JP Services, the amount of work that had briefly decreased was surging again.

Of course, Sarah and Robert were no exception. The accounting books Sarah had to review were increasing as much as the number of project teams, and the number of companies and branches Robert had to meet with was also increasing every month.

“How is Microsoft doing?”

“They said they would help us as much as possible.”

“That’s good.”

“We’ve also decided to participate as a third party in the new operating system they’re developing.”

This meant that when Microsoft developed a new operating system, Victoria Corporation would simultaneously develop a program tailored to that operating system.

“What about the Western Regional Headquarters?”

Western Regional Headquarters.

Jung Hyun-woo had previously appointed Mac Coyle as the head of the Western Regional Headquarters.

The reason Sarah spent two days in the West was to visit the Western Regional Headquarters after meeting with Microsoft.

“Mac is still quiet.”

“Is it problematic?”

“It wasn’t.”

“That’s a relief.”

Sarah put her handbag on the desk and said,

“Mac, he’s setting up the framework faster than expected.”

The Western Regional Headquarters was becoming more organized than she had anticipated.

“I told you he’s good at his job.”

What Mac Coyle lacked was sociability.

“You’re going to replace him in a year or two, right?”

“No.”

“So, you’re going to stick with Mac all the way?”

“Since he created the Western Regional Headquarters himself, wouldn’t he be the best at managing it?”

“Establishment and operation are different things.”

Jung Hyun-woo pulled out a tissue and wiped the saliva from around his lips.

“That may be the case, but I plan to keep him unless a big problem arises.”

Jung Hyun-woo’s trust in Mac Coyle seemed great.

“Hmm, if that’s what Charlie thinks, I understand.”

Sarah didn’t dislike Mac Coyle as much as Robert did, but she thought he couldn’t stay as a branch manager for long because of his lack of sociability.

Knock. Knock.

Someone knocked on the president’s office door.

“Come in.”

The person who came in was Jung Hyun-woo’s secretary, Ann.

“Charlie, it’s five minutes before the meeting.”

Jung Hyun-woo reached out and checked the calendar.

“Oh, that’s right.”

Sarah asked him,

“What meeting is it?”

“It’s a meeting with the data center design team.”

Jung Hyun-woo and Sarah had recently confirmed the construction of a data center in Yonkers, north of Manhattan.

“Now that I think about it, we need to pay attention to that as well.”

The Yonkers data center was a project worth about $100 million and would be responsible for financial services in the eastern region, including JP Services.

“Sarah, why don’t you go home early today and rest?”

“What are you going to do if I go home?”

It was common for the two to go home together.

“There’s a lot of work…”

Sarah interrupted him.

“You can’t sleep here.”

Jung Hyun-woo shrugged.

“There’s just too much to do.”

“If you overdo it, people don’t break, they just close their eyes.”

Sarah had been greatly surprised earlier, thinking he had fainted.

“Okay.”

Jung Hyun-woo scratched his head and headed to the conference room.

Sarah sighed as she watched him leave.

“Hoo… Isn’t success inversely proportional to happiness?”

Victoria Corporation had many businesses that had not yet fully started.

The financial modularization system was one of those businesses.

‘We’re busy now, but if we start developing the financial modularization system…’

Even if he didn’t code directly, just establishing the concept and design would leave him with only 3 or 4 hours of sleep a day.

‘That’s why I wanted to oppose it.’

Jung Hyun-woo was pushing so strongly that she couldn’t bring herself to stop him.

* * *

The design office commissioned to design the data center had many MIT graduates [Massachusetts Institute of Technology graduates].

The three designers who participated in today’s meeting were all MIT graduates.

“It’s an honor to meet Mr. Jung.”

Jung Hyun-woo scratched his head at his seniors’ greetings.

“An honor? How many better seniors are there than me?”

“Isn’t Mr. Jung the best right now?”

Jung Hyun-woo waved his hands wildly.

“Absolutely not.”

Although he waved his hands, the people from the design office didn’t think so.

Instead, they raised their voices.

“Mr. Jung is the pride of our MIT.”

“That’s right. If Harvard has Bill Gates, doesn’t our MIT have Charlie Jung?”

“Now that we have Charlie Jung, we can finally stand tall.”

Victoria Corporation became the most famous company in Boston with its IPO [Initial Public Offering, when a company offers shares to the public for the first time].

Jung Hyun-woo sighed inwardly at the three people’s words.

‘Hoo… That day’s speech was the problem.’

Since the day he signed the contract with Citibank, he had become a famous figure in Boston and at MIT.

This was exactly what MIT and Professor Mark Delin had intended.

“Alright, alright, let’s talk about work.”

The three designers nodded at Jung Hyun-woo’s words.

“Understood.”

They first checked the location where the data center would be built.

“It’s south of downtown Yonkers.”

Since Yonkers was north of Manhattan, south within Yonkers meant towards Manhattan.

“This location had the best accessibility.”

“But will it be okay? There’s a bridge…”

The fact that there was a bridge meant that it was not connected to Manhattan by land.

“Isn’t it a short bridge?”

“Still, the fact that there’s no land to bury the lines means the lines have to go over the bridge.”

The lines here referred to the fiber optic cables that would connect the data center to Wall Street.

This design team was not only building the data center but also in charge of burying the fiber optic cables connecting Wall Street and the data center.

“Is it difficult to run the cables over the bridge?”

“It shouldn’t be difficult with this kind of bridge. But we need to get permission from the local government.”

In short, there was a problem with permits.

“Um, I’ll take care of that.”

“If Mr. Jung says so, we understand.”

Jung Hyun-woo and the three designers used their fingers to find the route the cable would take.

“First of all, it seems like we can follow Broadway.”

Broadway was the road connecting Yonkers and Manhattan.

“That would be the best way to do it.”

“Once we get inside Wall Street, we’ll turn towards the stock exchange.”

The reason the cable was heading towards the stock exchange was because Victoria Corporation’s New York branch was located across from the stock exchange.

“The problem is New York City.”

Jung Hyun-woo pointed to JP Morgan’s headquarters with his finger.

“We’ve already consulted with New York City.”

Before contracting the data center site, he and Sarah had already met with New York City officials.

They had agreed to the construction of the data center and the laying of cables on the condition that the data center would create more than 500 jobs annually.

“Is it already agreed upon?”

“We wouldn’t have bought the land if it hadn’t been agreed upon.”

“I see.”

The three people felt that Jung Hyun-woo’s work was smart.

‘If you’re going to run a big company like Victoria Corporation, you have to be this good.’

Jung Hyun-woo moved his finger towards the data center and said,

“We haven’t checked the ground around the data center yet. If the ground is weak, what problems might there be when building the data center?”

The designer sitting on the right answered.

“Even if the ground is weak, it can be overcome with modern construction technology. However, it will cost more money.”

Since the data center was a heavier building than a library, if the ground was weak, a design and construction that could reinforce it was essential.

“If it costs more money, how much more will it cost?”

“If the total construction cost is $100 million, it will increase by at least $30 million.”

“Hmm, $30 million.”

$30 million was a huge sum of money that could buy a decent building in Boston.

“Unless there’s something particularly wrong with the ground, it won’t cost that much.”

The architectural designer sitting in the middle agreed with his opinion.

“The ground in New York isn’t weak, so it’s rare for it to cost that much.”

Jung Hyun-woo nodded after listening to the two people’s words.

“I hope so.”

The architectural designer sitting in the middle asked him.

“Does the construction cost have to be exactly $100 million unless there are special circumstances?”

Jung Hyun-woo asked him back.

“Are there cases where the construction cost increases even without conditions like the ground?”

The architectural designer answered his question.

“If you choose a special design? Or if you add more security or fire protection devices, the construction cost may increase.”

Jung Hyun-woo shook his head.

“It doesn’t need to be aesthetically excellent. A design that New York City won’t oppose is enough.”

It didn’t need to be beautiful.

The architects nodded at the same time.

“Understood.”

“You mean it’s better not to overdo the design.”

“We’ll make it as practical as possible.”

The practical design they were talking about was not a box-shaped building.

If they designed a box-shaped building, there was a high possibility that New York City’s permission would not be granted.

Jung Hyun-woo thought for a moment, then raised his right hand and extended one finger.

“It’s okay to increase it up to $10 million.”

“Do you mean you’re going to spend more on the design?”

“No. I mean that if the three of you discuss and think there are parts that need to be spent more on, you can do so.”

Jung Hyun-woo wanted to have a little leeway rather than sticking to the budget exactly.

“Understood. We’ll create a draft design based on what Mr. Jung said today.”

Near the end of the meeting.

Jung Hyun-woo raised his voice as if he had suddenly remembered something.

“There’s one condition for the design.”

The designer sitting in the middle raised his eyebrows.

“What condition is it?”

“I’d like it to be a design that can be expanded.”

“Are you thinking of expanding?”

The reason the three people were surprised at the same time was that the design they had requested was already the largest data center in the East.

“You never know what the future holds.”

It wasn’t necessarily a statement that he would expand.

The three people nodded only then.

“I see.”

“Understood. We will proceed with the design, considering the parts that can be expanded.”

Jung Hyun-woo and the data center design team’s meeting lasted nearly two hours.

Click.

When he came out after finishing the meeting, Sarah was waiting for him.

“Didn’t you go home?”

“How could I leave Charlie behind?”

“Sarah…”

“I worked while Charlie was in the meeting.”

Sarah processed the overdue approvals from her business trip and organized the data she had received from Microsoft.

“Shall we have dinner at a nice place?”

“To celebrate the success of the IPO?”

Sarah had received calls related to stock subscriptions in Seattle, but she had not yet formally discussed it with Jung Hyun-woo.

“Um, that wouldn’t be bad.”

Just as he was about to call Ann to make a restaurant reservation.

Ring. Ring.

The tactless phone rang.

Jung Hyun-woo reached out and answered the phone.

“This is Charlie.”

The language heard from the receiver was Korean, not English.

“Hyun-woo, this is Senior Secretary Heo.”

The person who called him was Senior Secretary for Civil Affairs, Heo Moon-young.

Jung Hyun-woo thought a difficult call had come.

‘Why now of all times.’

He gestured to Sarah that the call would be long and said,

“Senior Secretary Heo, what brings you here today?”

“About what I said before.”

Jung Hyun-woo raised his voice.

“Are you talking about the meeting with the Edinburgh Assemblyman?”

“Wouldn’t it be possible to move up the available schedule?”

“Is there a problem?”

“Prior to the VIP’s visit to the United States next month, the Chief of Staff wants to meet with the Edinburgh Assemblyman.”

Jung Hyun-woo knew that the VIP Senior Secretary Heo Moon-young mentioned meant the President.

‘The Chief of Staff wants to meet with the Edinburgh Assemblyman before the President’s visit to the United States to discuss something.’

He nodded and said,

“Understood. I will contact the Edinburgh Assemblyman and set a date.”

Senior Secretary Heo Moon-young smiled when Jung Hyun-woo readily agreed to his request.

‘As expected of Hyun-woo.’

He thought he had overcome a difficult task thanks to Jung Hyun-woo.

“Hyun-woo.”

“Do you have another request?”

“How about you meet the Chief of Staff as well?”

“Me meet the Chief of Staff?”

“The Chief of Staff is planning to bring a gift for you.”

The President’s Chief of Staff was coming to the United States with a gift, so he couldn’t refuse to meet him.

‘Hoo… I’m so busy.’

He said in a deliberately bright voice.

“If the Chief of Staff is coming, I have to meet him. Is he coming to Washington?”

“You should arrange the place where you will meet the Edinburgh Assemblyman. He will go there.”

“Understood. I will arrange the place.”

The most advantageous place for Jung Hyun-woo was Boston.

‘But it won’t be easy to call the Edinburgh Assemblyman to Boston.’

He thought Washington was the most suitable place.