The Conglomerate Family Became A Villain [EN]: Chapter 51

51. Becoming a Villain in a Chaebol Family – Another Bubble 02 –

***

The campus was cloaked in twilight.

Hardly any students were left in sight.

A blue Ford slowly pulled out of the campus parking lot.

“I’m sorry. Because of me······.”

Serah had come to see him, but Jung Hyun-woo couldn’t leave school right away, as he had to help Professor Norn in the lab with the program that day.

“It’s okay. I was the one who came without notice.”

Serah had waited for over two hours at the cafe, but she didn’t blame Jung Hyun-woo.

As she said, she was the one who had come to him unexpectedly.

‘What could be the reason for Serah’s sudden visit?’

Serah hadn’t told him the purpose of her visit to MIT, even as he got into the car.

“So, where are we going?”

It didn’t seem like they were heading to Fenway Park [a famous baseball stadium in Boston].

‘And this direction isn’t towards home either.’

Serah answered as she turned the steering wheel.

“I’ll tell you when we get there.”

She drove slowly. Despite waiting for two hours, she didn’t seem impatient.

Eventually, they arrived in a downtown area near a subway station.

“Is it here?”

“Yes.”

Serah pulled the handbrake and turned off the engine.

“Let’s go.”

It was clear that she wasn’t suggesting they grab a beer, especially with Jung Hyun-woo still being a minor.

“Hmm.”

Click.

As he closed the door and stepped outside, Serah grabbed his hand. A fair and soft hand.

The moment Jung Hyun-woo’s face flushed slightly, she raised her voice.

“Here it is.”

She pointed to a place, still holding Jung Hyun-woo’s hand.

There, black letters were written on a gray sign. He wouldn’t have been able to read the letters if there weren’t streetlights nearby, but fortunately, there was one about 5 meters away.

Jung Hyun-woo slowly read the sign, which was reflecting the streetlight.

“Victoria Corporation······.”

The first headquarters of Victoria Corporation.

This was what Serah wanted to show Jung Hyun-woo: the sign and the building.

“So, this is our company.”

Serah said with a bright smile.

“The interior work is finished too. Want to go inside?”

Jung Hyun-woo replied in a clear voice.

“Yes, let’s go.”

Serah walked towards the hallway where the elevator was installed.

“Since it’s a new building, the indoor lighting is bright.”

In the United States, bright lighting was effective in preventing crime. In that sense, Victoria Corporation’s headquarters was a good building.

“The hallway is basically modern, isn’t it?”

“Does Charlie like the Baroque style?”

“Of course not.”

The two got into the elevator.

“Which floor is it?”

“We’ll be using the 9th and 10th floors of the 10-story building.”

“Two floors?”

“Actually, it’s because the 9th floor is vacant.”

It seemed the further away from the elevator, the more likely it was to be vacant.

“Then which floor does Serah want to use?”

“The 10th floor. The highest place can see the farthest.”

It was unexpected.

Her mansion was far from high-rise buildings. So, Jung Hyun-woo thought she would prefer lower floors to higher ones. But contrary to his expectations, she preferred the higher floors.

Ding.

With a short bell sound, the elevator arrived on the 10th floor.

“Here we are.”

Serah’s expression was bright. She seemed to really like the interior.

“Ta-da!”

As he opened the office door and stepped inside, a bright white-toned office came into view.

‘Clean, modern, and like a newlywed home.’

Jung Hyun-woo felt like he knew her taste.

“Wow! When did you decorate all this!”

He widened his eyes and mouth as much as possible. He was like a team member visiting the housewarming of the management support team leader.

“While Charlie was studying at school! Come this way.”

Serah grabbed his hand and led him. She took Jung Hyun-woo to the executive office.

“This is Charlie’s room.”

Charlie’s room.

To be honest, it was a bit awkward.

‘It’s awkward for a developer’s room to be decorated this well.’

A spacious office, a long table, and a comfortable chair.

His office resembled the executive office of a large corporation.

“Is this a conference room and the president’s office?”

“That’s right.”

Serah nodded and introduced him to various parts of the office. But Jung Hyun-woo didn’t hear her introduction.

‘The development team leader must be with the team members.’

He had no intention of using this room.

“Charlie?”

“Yes?”

Serah realized that his gaze was elsewhere.

“Is something wrong?”

Jung Hyun-woo decided to be honest.

“My office is really nice. The window is wide, the chair is good, but I’m not just a president.”

Serah exclaimed briefly, as if she hadn’t thought of that.

“Ah······.”

Jung Hyun-woo continued.

“I’m a president and a developer. I need a space where I can breathe and work with the team members.”

Serah nodded at his words.

“I understand what you mean.”

“I’m sorry.”

“What are you sorry for? This company is Charlie’s company.”

“But Serah put so much effort into the office.”

Serah smiled and took both of his hands.

“This company is a space for Charlie to realize his dreams. Office interiors and things like that aren’t important.”

Her heart is bright.

Kind.

It didn’t seem like these words could fully express her heart.

‘Serah is a really good person.’

Would the villain Jung Hyun-woo have met Serah?

No, why did he remain a villain even after meeting her?

If he was a born villain, her smile might not have helped at all.

“Serah.”

“Let’s buy a computer that Charlie likes. I don’t know much about this.”

In the hardware revolution that changes every day, simply expensive products were not always the best.

“Thank you.”

“Let’s have John come here too before going to New York.”

“Of course.”

Two days later.

Jung Hyun-woo and Serah departed from Boston to California.

***

Jung Hyun-woo and Serah interviewed employees in California for three days without rest.

The number of people they interviewed in three days was a whopping 103.

Serah couldn’t even remember all their faces.

‘We selected thirty of them.’

What was unique was that Jung Hyun-woo had structured the staff with a multinational composition, not just Americans.

‘Will it be okay?’

Serah was slightly worried about this.

“I wish we had a little more time.”

Serah raised her eyebrows at Jung Hyun-woo’s words.

“Like an internship or something?”

“No. I didn’t mean to that extent, but I wanted to see them actually coding.”

Serah tilted her head.

“Hmm, you mean you wanted to see their practical skills?”

“Some developers are quite clumsy or awkward with words.”

When hiring salespeople, it was natural to hire those who were confident and spoke well, but not developers.

Not many developers were good at speaking. Rather, many were taciturn or lost in their own world. It was difficult to find out their abilities through interviews.

‘There were portfolios, but I can’t trust them all.’

What he was worried about was not the abilities of the selected employees, but the fact that there might be excellent talents among those he had missed.

‘There might be talents among those I rejected who could shake up Silicon Valley.’

Serah looked at him and shrugged.

“Charlie, what are you so worried about?”

“The fish I missed looks bigger.”

“Huh?”

Jung Hyun-woo told her exactly what he was thinking.

Serah chuckled at his words.

“That’s because Charlie is too greedy. You can’t predict a person’s future. Even the Red Sox missed Bambino [nickname of Babe Ruth, a legendary baseball player].”

Bambino.

In Italian, it meant baby or child. And this one word was also the nickname of Babe Ruth, the legend of Major League Baseball.

Jung Hyun-woo also knew.

That the Boston Red Sox had not won the World Series for over 80 years after trading Bambino.

People called that jinx the Curse of the Bambino.

‘The Curse of the Bambino was lifted after the 20th century.’

Of course, it wasn’t that Jung Hyun-woo and Victoria Corporation would be cursed by the Bambino.

Serah mentioned Bambino to say that no matter how big the missed talent was, the choice couldn’t be reversed.

‘Regret is a useless emotion, I guess.’

He nodded and refocused.

“Serah is right. If you try to have everything in the world, you won’t be able to have any of it.”

Selection and concentration.

These were words he had heard countless times in his past life.

May arrived.

The employees selected in California flew to Boston.

From this point on, Serah was so busy that she had to reduce her sleep.

“We’re going to divide the development team into Team 1 and Team 2.”

“For JP Morgan and game development?”

“No. I’m thinking of dividing them into network development and software development.”

“Then what about the game?”

“It should go to Team 3.”

Serah sighed inwardly.

‘Hoo, three teams. And there’s the New York office too, the work is getting bigger than expected.’

The situation was completely different from when Jung Hyun-woo was making games alone. She had to take care of the employees’ welfare as well as their family matters.

And one more thing.

For employees with different nationalities, their work visa issues also had to be resolved.

‘Can I do it all alone?’

She was somehow managing because there were still fewer than thirty employees.

But if the number of employees increased from here, she might overheat.

“Serah. Serah?”

Serah paused at Jung Hyun-woo’s question.

“Huh?”

“Your eyes were closed.”

“Mine?”

Jung Hyun-woo nodded.

“Shouldn’t you get some sleep?”

“I want to, but there are documents that need to be submitted to the city hall by today.”

“Serah.”

Jung Hyun-woo grabbed her sleeve.

“Why?”

“Let’s hire more people.”

Serah was surprised by his words.

Hiring more people meant her work would increase from here.

“What do you mean?”

Even now, she was at her limit.

“We should have a business support team too.”

“A business support team?”

“Someone to help Serah.”

Jung Hyun-woo knew that Serah had too many roles.

‘It would be overwhelming just to run the company······. And she’s in charge of the business support team too.’

But Serah shook her head.

“I’m okay.”

“You’re not okay.”

“Charlie, hiring people isn’t just something you can say.”

“Hiring people will incur additional costs. But if Serah collapses, Victoria Corporation is over.”

Jung Hyun-woo didn’t want to make the mistake of being penny-wise and pound-foolish.

‘Someone said that money is just a leverage to make more money.’

Of course, a life that endlessly pursues only money was not happy. And he had no intention of living such a life.

“······.”

“Hire three people generously. Even if you combine the salaries of three people, it won’t exceed $100,000 a year.”

Serah’s thoughts were different.

‘It’s $100,000.’

The management theory she learned in college was to minimize costs and maximize profits. And this management theory continued until the early 1990s.

“Charlie.”

“Serah, listen to me. I’ll check tomorrow. Hire them right away today.”

Jung Hyun-woo left those words and got up from his seat.

“Hoo······. Charlie, the sales of Zero Space 3 have plummeted.”

She thought she had to make up for the drop in sales of Zero Space 3 from somewhere.

“Serah, the game industry has collapsed, so how can Zero Space 3 have good sales?”

The reason Serah was concerned about Zero Space 3 was that up to Zero Space 2, the contract was made in Jung Hyun-woo’s name, but Zero Space 3 was contracted with Activision in the name of Victoria Corporation, not Jung Hyun-woo.

In other words, the sales of Zero Space 3 were directly related to the sales of Victoria Corporation.

“But Charlie.”

“Trust me. Video games will soar again soon.”

Soar again soon.

Serah had no choice but to nod.

“Okay. I’ll trust Charlie.”

Victoria Corporation could not be established without trusting Jung Hyun-woo.

‘Let’s get a grip. My role is to help Charlie achieve his dreams.’

She thought she had lost her initial intentions because she was so engrossed in running the company.

“I’m thinking of going to New York this week.”

“New York?”

“I need to finalize the investment.”

Victoria Corporation had decided to invest $20 million in Magellan Fund.

“Can I skip it?”

“Is it okay if you don’t meet John?”

John Lee was currently alone in New York.

“School is busy.”

The intensity of assignments and exams at MIT was increasing as the semester progressed.

‘This time, there’s no John to make a cheat sheet.’

Jung Hyun-woo had to overcome MIT’s final exams with his own strength.

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