The Famous Millionaire

Hyunwoo and Duyoung began to launch the start-up STM in earnest.

Duyoung gathered a group of experts to build a factory and facilities, while Hyunwoo reviewed the factory site.

Though it was not the first time he launched his business, Hyunwoo was thrilled when he got down to selecting the factory site.

It was because he felt that this was ‘his own business.’

Up to now, Hyunwoo did business that helped other people. That was the case of his first start-up N&C Korea, followed by Ani & Funny and KOVE DREAM. They were not Hyunwoo’s original business items.

But STM was different. It was his own business based on Duyoung’s development of green oil technology. Of course, he had to recognize the credit of Mingyu Kang who gave an idea of microorganisms, or Jamin Yu who helped Duyoung make a breakthrough in his research by dropping a battery in a gasoline bucket.

As for the factory site, Hyunwoo had an eye on one already. Seven months ago, when Duyoung began to gain momentum in his research, Hyunwoo started to review the feasibility of a place near several industrial complexes across the country.

And he selected three places as the finalist. One of them was Yochon where there was a petrochemical complex, the other one was Seoul and Incheon, and the last one was Sosan.

Hyunwoo felt more attracted to Sosan out of them.

The port of Daesan in Sosan was emerging as the mecca of the petrochemical complex. In particular, the local autonomous entities and politicians were actively involved in inviting enterprises to Sosan.

Hyunwoo liked Assemblyman Chulwoo Chung and the mayor of Sosan. He met them often while building Haenim School in Tapgokri, Sosan City and found their political conviction was very clear.

Besides, they had no private greed at all. Hyunwoo never found such clean politicians before.

Hyunwoo felt lots of things while doing business so far.

The most important was the propitiousness of the times.

And another important factor was human resources.

Of course, the factory site or the surrounding environment was important, but much less important when compared with the luck of the times or human resources.

Hyunwoo called congressman Chulwoo first.

“Hi, Congressman Mr. Chung. This is Hyunwoo Jang.”

“How are you, Mr. Jang? I never expected you called me first like this. By the way, don’t call me a congressman. You promised not to call me that formal title, didn’t you?”

“Hahaha, got it, brother.”

“By the way, what’s up? You must not have called me without any business.”

“Well, I would like to launch a start-up enterprise, and if I can, I would like to build a factory in your constituency. I would like to discuss it with you. Can you take the time out one of these days?”

“Oh, I’m now in Sosan. Let’s have a dinner together with the mayor of Sosan this evening.”

Hyunwoo happened to have no dinner appointment.

“Got it. I’ll see you in front of Sosan City Hall by 7 pm.”

After the call, he headed for the KOVE DREAM office.

There was nothing special that he needed to pay attention to. He stopped by the office of N&C Korea, KOVE DREAM and Ani & Funny three or four times per week for business briefing.

KOVE DREAM was operating on a very stable basis.

Of course, the word ‘stable’ didn’t necessarily mean the positive side. In other words, that meant there was no change. In fact, KOVE DREAM stopped growing.

It was not the problem of KOVE DREAM alone. It was caused by several large companies that created something like KOVE DREAM.

Of course, KOVE DREAM was superior to its rivals in terms of the consumers’ perception of its products and reputation.

But rival companies competitively attacked KOVE DREAM with lower commission fees and technical support to attract aspiring companies as their members.

As time went by, the number of companies wishing to join KOVE DREAM dwindled, while those defecting to its rivals began to increase.

But Hyunwoo was not worried. Actually, he didn’t need to worry.

Besides, KOVE DREAM had no chance of going bankrupt because there were many successful companies such as DF Technology in Vietnam and Sungsin Company in China, where Hyunwoo made a direct investment.

Already 21 companies that developed their own technology joined KOVE DREAM, and half of them already repaid all their initial investments and generated profits.

This was something very encouraging. Most of these companies received huge investments from Hyunwoo to the point that they transferred 70% of the company to him. Thanks to this, they bought back Hyunwoo’s stake, and as a result Hyunwoo only kept a 30% stake.

When Hyunoo invested in these companies, they were in financial difficulty or on the verge of bankruptcy, with their stocks plummeting.

But the situation was different when they bought back the shares from Hyunwoo. When they succeeded in developing new technology, they began to grow every day, which led to the soaring of their stocks.

Some of the companies saw their stock prices rising fivefold, and some saw a thirtyfold increase.

In other words, if Hyunwoo invested one billion won, he retrieved more than 10 billion won.

There were lots of companies that made a success like this. Hyunwoo invested in over 70 companies so far, and he is still searching for the high-potential companies that needed his investment.

It was not just the case of foreign companies in Vietnam and other countries.

For example, the domestic Korean company Nanotech received over 20 billion won from Hyunwoo.

Because of this huge investment Hyunwoo checked Nanotech’s business status on a regular basis.

Today, too, he had such a report.

“Finally, we are done with inspecting the facilities. Test operation will start today.”

Hyunwoo’s face brightened. He expected the test operation would start within six months, but it had been delayed by four more months.

And now all set, and ready to go.

“What time does it start?”

“3 pm. Can you come if you have free time?”

The new factory of Nanotech was located within Sukmoon Industrial Complex in Dangjin. It was within the one-hour driving distance from the complex.

When Hyunwoo checked the time, it was a little after 11 am. He had enough time to have lunch before leaving for the complex.

“Of course, I’ll join you. How can I skip it on a historic day like today?”

Hyunwoo canceled all his afternoon appointments.

After lunch, he leisurely drove to the new Nanotech factory in Sukmoon Industrial Complex. Beside him was Taeho Min.

Hyunwoo had been to the old factory of Nanotech several times in the past, but it was not large in size.

When he arrived, its president Hyunsang Chu greeted them at the main gate.

“Welcome!”

“Congratulations!”

“Thanks. I owe it all to you, President Jang. Thanks so much. The operation is ready. Shall we go?”

Hyunwoo followed him into the new factory.

All the processing was done in a closed space. So, he could not visit the actual site. Instead he could watch it through monitors installed at each processing center.

Hyunwoo and Taeho watched the process for about 30 minutes. The technicians briefed them step by step. Though there were many technical terms Hyunwoo could not understand, Taeho took down their points in his notebook while asking them questions.

He was also briefed about the business related to carbon nanotubes.

Hyunwoo felt the business prospects were both promising and disappointing.

What was disappointing was the unit cost. When Chu originally explained to Hyunwoo, he mentioned the production cost was less than 1,000 won per gram.

But it was now over 2,000 won when they recalculated the production cost after completing the new factory.

Hyunwoo saw that there were more promising areas in the carbon nanotubes business. He scouted a US expert with Ph. D., recognized as a global authority on carbon nanotubes.

According to him, he would be able to raise the quality of the product within six months and find a way to lower the production cost.

If that was true, Nanotech could be the world’s best company in the area of carbon nanotubes.

There was a thunderous clap from the participants at the end of the briefing session.

There was a special photo session and reception.

Though Mr. Chu asked Hyunwoo to stay for dinner, he had a very important appointment that he could not cancel.

After he left Nanotech, he headed for Sosan City.

Though it was near the complex, Hyunwoo left early for the appointed place not to keep his guests waiting.

When he arrived at the restaurant, however, the mayor of Sosan and congressman Chulwoo Chung arrived ahead of him, waiting for him.

“Oh my god, I left early enough, but I’m still late. I’m very sorry.”

“No, you don’t have to say that. We’ve been here since the daytime. Have a seat.”

It was the most famous Chinese restaurant in Sosan.

They broke the ice by exchanging pleasantries over drinks.

Mr. Kim first opened his mouth to get Hyunwoo to bring up the main topic.

“So, I hear you’re launching a start-up on oil refinery, right?” asked Kim.

“Yes, in fact, my father is a doctor in chemistry…”

Hyunwoo briefly explained to them about his business plan. He didn’t mention the core technology of green oil, but even his brief introduction surprised the mayor and Mr. Kim.

“Wow, your father really has discovered a wonderful thing. I guess that may change the world car fuel market. Hahaha.”

Mr. Kim talked about Hyunwoo’s business plan in a grand manner, but the way he made a conceited smile, he didn’t seem to genuinely think it was as grand as he said. If he really had thought so, he could not have uttered one word out of a big surprise.

Maybe he might think the new green oil was a tad better than typical gasoline.

But Hyunwoo was confident. Mr. Kim’s mention of green oil would be a reality, not just well-wishing remarks.