“XFeed to compete for the fourth mobile carrier position with a budget of 15 billion dollars.”
“President Kang Woosung’s Coconut under investigation.”
The media aired the news of Woosung continuously. When Jang Gwangchul arrived at the communication building to file the paperwork for XFeed, the reporters swarmed him aggressively.
“Is it true that President Kang was involved in an embezzlement scam?”
“There is a rumor that Coconut’s fund was illegally used to promote XFeed. Is this true?”
“Do you think this scandal will affect your chance at the fourth mobile carrier business?”
“President Kang Woosung claimed that 15 billion dollars came from his own personal account, but the public is having a hard time believing it. What do you think?”
Jang Gwangchul was overwhelmed but he replied calmly, “These are all false rumors and accusations. I trust in our justice system to reveal the truth. All we want is a fair process.” Jang Gwangchul then glared at the pushy reporters and continued, “The 15 billion dollars for XFeed came from our President’s personal fund. There were no illegal activities involved.”
The photos of Jang Gwangchul glaring at the reporters became popular online. Woosung laughed and showed them to him.
“Haha, look! You’re nicknamed the laser Jang.”
Jang Gwangchul blinked. “Let me see.”
There were several photos from different angles where Jang Gwangchul looked angry. One of the pictures was even used on an article with a title, “Jang Gwangchul declares innocence of his company and CEO.”
Jang Gwangchul complained, “This is all your fault!”
“You must have been very angry.”
“You saw what happened. The media is releasing biased news and it’s working. We may not get the mobile carrier business because of this.”
“As long as the process is done fairly, we will be ok.”
“You can’t be sure.”
Woosung licked his lips and asked, “Do you remember the most important component on the application form?”
“Financial status and ability.”
“We wrote 15 billion dollars and provided the necessary paperwork for proof.”
“That’s useless. Official Choi Gijung has huge influences and he is helping Daeyang.”
“But this is an open public process. There are many eyes watching. If he does anything, it could backfire.” Woosung smiled mysteriously and continued, “It has been a few days since the prosecutors started the investigation, yet they still haven’t come to us for questioning or office search. This means that they don’t have anything on us.”
Korea Communications Commission.
The judges were looking through the application forms to assess them.
“This is definitely the winner, right?”
One of the judges asked and the other one nodded.
“It’s true. 15 billion-dollar budget is the highest of them all.”
“But we were asked to make Daeyang’s ITS win…”
“They only wrote down 5 billion dollars though.”
“What should we do?”
“We need to follow the rules, or else we will lose our jobs.”
They were asked by such a high ranking official for a favor though. If they did it for him, they could get huge promotions.
However, one of the judges shook his head.
“Don’t even think about it. It’s not worth it.”
They continued to do their paperwork late into the night.
The final result was sent to Choi Gijung. After reading it, Choi Gijung murmured in awe, “15 billion dollars…”
He was shocked at the number and the fact that it was all in cash, and it was truly from Kang Woosung’s personal fund.
After contemplating, Choi Gijung made a call.
It was answered quickly, “Hello, sir. How are you?”
“I was reading the report and found something interesting.”
“Haha, really?”
“You wrote the available fund for XFeed to be 15 billion dollars. It’s such a huge amount of money…”
Woosung replied calmly, “Some may think it’s a lot of money, while to some, it’s nothing.”
“Is it really true that it’s all in cash? Are you saying that it’s not part of your real estate or loan from the bank with collateral?”
“That’s right. I know how expensive this business can be, so I decided on a generous budget.”
Choi Gijung trembled and replied, “You must be very confident in this project to spend so much money on it.”
“Haha, I think you must have heard about my business successes, right?”
Choi Gijung couldn’t deny it, but he also knew that Woosung was in a difficult situation.
He said knowingly, “When you have such a fast-growing business, you often face difficulties. I am very good at solving these problems so if you ever need my help, you are welcome to ask.”
Woosung understood immediately. Choi Gijung was asking for a bribe. However, Woosung knew that unless the prosecutors made things up, he would come out innocent in the end.
“I would appreciate your advice, but I only trust people who are on my side.”
Choi Gijung became silent. After a few seconds, he replied, “As the head of Korea Communications Commission, I am on no one’s side.”
“Then please call me when you have the result. I am always ready.”
Woosung hung up. Choi Gijung frowned angrily. “That bastard…”
However, 15 billion dollars…There was no way he could make Daeyang’s ITS win this process. Choi Gijung made a call to Jang Hyunho.
“Kang Woosung wrote down 15 billion dollars.”
Jang Hyunho was speechless.
Choi Gijung continued, “ITS wrote 5 billion dollars. I can’t do anything about it unless you have at least over 10 billion dollars.”
Jang Hyunho answered quickly, “T…that’s not possible.”
“Then all you can do is to wait and hope the prosecutors come up with something bad on Kang Woosung.”
“And if that happens, will ITS be chosen?”
Choi Gijung sighed and replied, “Even if I choose your company with 5 billion dollars budget, the government won’t give the final approval. It’s just not enough. They may choose not to select any company then.”
“Alright.”
After hanging up, Jang Hyunho sighed deeply. It was becoming more complicated than he thought.
Seoul Central Prosecution Special Investigation’s Min Giyoon has been working overtime for the past two weeks.
He said to his co-worker, “I’m worried that we will get in trouble for overzealous and unnecessary investigation.”
“If we haven’t found anything, it must be that Kang Woosung is running his company ethically. Didn’t he also pass the tax audit recently?”
“You mean the one where he actually got a refund?”
“Yes, and you know how thorough those tax guys are.”
Min Giyoon swallowed bitterly. “But if we don’t find anything, we will get in trouble with our boss.”
“Then should we finally make something up?”
“But if we get caught doing that, we will lose our jobs.”
“…”
Suddenly, another investigator walked in.
“S…sir, you need to turn on the TV.”
“Why? What’s happening?”
“President Kang Woosung is making an announcement regarding this investigation. The problem is…”
“Yes?”
“They just held a game where their AI won the first round of Go against Lee Soodol. Their technology is now proven to be the best in the world. If we continue this investigation unnecessarily, we will be bashed by the public. It looks especially bad because they just recently went through the tax investigation.”
Min Giyoon turned the TV on quickly. Woosung was speaking confidently in front of the cameras.
“We have made a big step towards an exciting future today. Our AI has won the first round of the complex game against the best human player in the world! I am proud that this technology has been developed in Korea by Koreans. However, with the recent investigations, I am beginning to feel uncomfortable in Korea as a tech business CEO. So after this event, I will be seriously considering moving Coconut and my other companies to another country. If I knew how hard it was to run businesses in Korea, I would have never returned from Silicone Valley.”
After his speech, Woosung left. The reporters screamed their questions, but he was already gone. The media went wild.
