Real Man

Chapter 130:

Chapter 130

A few days later, in the evening.

Director Lee Kyung-hoon was in a bar with a luxurious atmosphere.

“Why does our team leader look so gloomy?”

“Did I look that way?”

“Haha, you have worries written all over your forehead. What’s wrong?”

“You can’t fool your eyes, brother.”

Director Lee Kyung-hoon handed a drink in a fine porcelain cup to his companion.

Senior Researcher Go Joon-gil, the team leader of the next-generation product development team of the mobile phone business division (equivalent to director level), took the cup.

He was also a member of Han-gol-mo, and he was on friendly terms with Director Lee Kyung-hoon.

“Wow, you’re calling me brother. It must be something important.”

“It’s not that. It’s just that there’s something bothering me.”

“What is it? Tell me.”

“Our idea for the contest passed.”

“Really? I think I saw that… But why?”

Director Lee Kyung-hoon looked embarrassed at Senior Researcher Go Joon-gil’s question.

“It’s an unrealistic idea that we threw out without thinking, but it got through.”

“Oh no. That happens sometimes.”

“Yes. I know your team is applying too, and I feel like I’m burdening you…”

“Oh, you want me to withdraw?”

Senior Researcher Go Joon-gil, who had emptied his cup, asked as if he understood.

Director Lee Kyung-hoon poured more drinks and spoke as if it wasn’t his business.

The more desperate he seemed, the bigger the price he had to pay.

“It’s not that, but the group leader is worried too. If we pass the second round, we have to make a real product, but we don’t have the resources for that.”

“Haha, that would be bad. What can I do?”

“Do you need to invest manpower in something that’s impossible? You don’t have the capacity either.”

“I guess so. So?”

Senior Researcher Go Joon-gil nodded calmly.

He never asked any specific questions.

He just waited for Director Lee Kyung-hoon to say what he wanted.

“There’s an investment opportunity in an equipment company. It’s called D&Tech, and they’re going to go public soon. They have a lot of potential. Of course, I secured your spot for sure.”

Chirp.

As soon as the answer came out, Senior Researcher Go Joon-gil picked up the bottle and filled Director Lee Kyung-hoon’s cup.

Then he raised his cup.

“It’s probably not a good idea to invest manpower in something that has no chance, right?”

“You’re absolutely right.”

Clang.

“Haha, you always make sense, brother. The drink is so sweet.”

“Isn’t it more fun to be together?”

Senior Researcher Go Joon-gil clinked his cup with Director Lee Kyung-hoon’s cup, who smiled.

The productization consulting for the first round contest winners began.

The organizer was the product planning team of the mobile phone business division, but the actual work was done by the next-generation product development team of the mobile phone business division.

The consulting place was also the Hanseong Electronics Sindorim Campus where the next-generation product development team of the mobile phone business division was located.

The consulting was done separately for each case, so the dates were different.

It was a few days after it started.

Finally, it was Assistant Manager Park Seung-woo’s turn.

Yoo-hyun, Assistant Manager Park Seung-woo, and Lee Chan-ho were standing in front of the Sindorim Campus building.

Assistant Manager Park Seung-woo spoke with a stiff voice.

“Chan-ho, why are you shaking so much?”

“You seem more nervous than me, sir.”

Assistant Manager Park Seung-woo and Lee Chan-ho poked each other’s shoulders for no reason.

“Yoo-hyun, what do you think? Who looks more nervous?”

“I think you both look the same.”

“No way. I’m not nervous.”

Assistant Manager Park Seung-woo said no, but his face was flushed.

He looked tense to anyone who saw him.

It was understandable.

From Assistant Manager Park Seung-woo’s point of view, it was a moment when his idea could be productized right in front of his eyes.

He had only been in charge of LCD panels until now.

He naturally wanted to make a mobile phone, the final product that reaches consumers’ hands.

It would be hard to get this opportunity again even if he worked hard all his life.

‘It won’t be easy.’

Yoo-hyun wasn’t nervous at all, but he couldn’t relax either.

The mobile phone business division would be less interested in the LCD business division’s idea.

He had to step up for fair competition.

His rank was low, and the people he met were unfamiliar.

How should he deal with a situation where he couldn’t voice his opinion?

Yoo-hyun simulated dozens of situations in his head.

That’s when it happened.

Assistant Manager Jung Eun-hee of the product planning team of the mobile phone business division came down to the first floor meeting room.

She was the contest manager who contacted him about the meeting, and Yoo-hyun had already checked her face through the internal contact network.

“Are you Assistant Manager Park Seung-woo? You can go up to the fifth floor.”

“Yes. I understand.”

Click clack.

As Assistant Manager Jung Eun-hee walked in a neat outfit, Lee Chan-ho and Assistant Manager Park Seung-woo whispered behind her.

“She’s in the same product planning team, but she looks different, doesn’t she?”

“The mobile phone business division looks more impressive. Right, Yoo-hyun?”

They both looked a bit relieved, which was a relief, but Yoo-hyun didn’t want to answer that question.

He had something to do now.

He walked ahead without saying a word and pushed the box he was holding next to Assistant Manager Jung Eun-hee forward.

Assistant Manager Jung Eun-hee, who was walking forward, glanced at it once, tilted her head, and looked at it again.

There was an unexpected item in the open box.

“Huh? What is this? A phone mockup?”

“Yes. We made it ourselves, in case it would help with the meeting.”

“Oh, you made it yourself. Can I see it?”

“Of course.”

Assistant Manager Jung Eun-hee touched the mockup as if she was looking at a precious toy.

“Huh? You made it like a real phone. Wait? Does this touch work?”

“Yes. If you press this, a touch test program will pop up.”

“Wow, this is nice.”

As expected, she exclaimed.

Yoo-hyun didn’t make a proper mockup using Semi Electronics and Han Jae-hee for nothing.

He wouldn’t have invested so much time if he was going to use it for a report.

When I planned this mockup, I already had the final product in mind.

It meant that it would be appealing enough to the people in the mobile phone division.

However.

There was a problem if I revealed this mockup that I made myself at this meeting.

The next-generation product development team, who would support the production of the mobile phone prototype, might misunderstand it as an invasion of their territory.

They would say that if I could make it so well, I should do it myself.

That’s why the role of Jung Eun-hee, the assistant manager, was important.

The rumors heard through a third party had the power to break down the barriers and make people follow the majority opinion.

Yoo-hyun’s thought was exactly right.

Jung Eun-hee, who entered the conference room, started to brag as if she had seen something amazing.

“Manager, look at this. Didn’t they make it really well?”

“Huh? Really? Did they do this in the LCD division?”

“Wow, it looks like a real phone. Kim Manager, come and see.”

Thanks to her, the people in the mobile phone division’s product planning team, who were in charge of today’s meeting, showed great interest.

That interest spread to the engineers of the next-generation product development team even before the meeting started.

“They paid a lot of attention to the details. The icons and this look like they designed them from scratch.”

“Which company did this? Semi Electronics? How did they implement it without an OS?”

“They made it with firmware only. They worked with images. It must have been a lot of hard work.”

Since they were pure engineers, they were more curious than asking why they made such a thing.

Park Seung-woo, the assistant manager, and Lee Chan-ho were busy.

They had to answer the pouring questions.

When it was a brief lull, Kang Chang-seok, Yoo-hyun’s colleague from the mobile phone division’s next-generation product development team, asked Yoo-hyun.

“You made it well. How did you do it?”

“The company made it well for us.”

“Really? Anyway, the seniors liked it. Actually, your team was the fifth one today.”

His face was full of fatigue.

The other team members were the same.

“Your team members must be tired too.”

“Tired. The schedule is short and we have to make multiple products at the same time.”

“I guess so.”

“It’s okay for products with design teams attached, but we have to plan almost everything for others. They don’t like it when we say we can’t do something.”

“They would feel bad if they can’t do what others can.”

Yoo-hyun had roughly expected that.

It was impossible to make all 20 ideas from the contest into products in one team.

So they divided what they could and couldn’t make in a short period of time before the second screening.

They gave out the product feasibility and schedule for what they couldn’t make.

It sounded plausible in name only, but here, ideas that couldn’t be made into products were unlikely to win in the contest.

It meant that they were harder to make into products than other ideas without a doubt.

In that sense, this meeting was important enough to decide whether they would pass or fail in the second screening.

Kang Chang-seok showed a positive response.

“But yours seems possible. The design is simple and you have all the internal images ready. Actually, I think you can just send it as it is.”

“But still, an LCD panel mockup and a mobile phone product mockup are different.”

“Are they? Well, I think we can make something similar by tuning the touch phone we made for testing.”

It was the effect of Yoo-hyun presenting the mockup first.

He showed them the final shape of the product and cut off the middle process.

It had to look easier than other products relatively.

“I’m sure you’ve prepared really well since you made me think so. The other seniors wouldn’t say anything either.”

“Thank you. I hope it goes well.”

Yoo-hyun calmly expressed his opinion.

Soon after, the head of the mobile phone division’s next-generation product development team joined them.

Park Seung-woo gave a presentation in a solemn atmosphere.

Since they had already seen the mockup, the practitioners were quite focused on the presentation content.

There were questions from here and there during the presentation, and the feedback was good.

One of the members of the mobile phone division’s product planning team asked.

“Did you check the schedule for the next-generation mobile phone product?”

“Yes. I did.”

“That’s amazing. It’s not something you can easily find out from the LCD division.”

-My colleague is a researcher in the next-generation product development team. So I got his schedule and thought about including this content. After all, it’s important to have a final product schedule for a contest.

Park Seung-woo, who smiled at Yoo-hyun, answered confidently.

“I cross-checked through various routes. It was also a big effect to refer to last year’s development schedule.”

“Hmm, that’s good.”

“Detailed and meticulous. The concept is good. And above all, this price seems really good.”

“It’s very simple but unique. Isn’t the color phone naming good?”

“Yes. I can see that you paid attention to every detail.”

The product planning team members opened a review meeting with short answers.

The atmosphere looked as good as it could be.

Yoo-hyun looked at their faces and confirmed the positive trend.

But among them, only Go Jun-gil, the senior researcher and the team leader of the next-generation product development team, who was the oldest participant in this meeting, didn’t look happy.

He looked full of complaints.

Yoo-hyun’s brow furrowed as he saw him from behind.

Go Jun-gil, who was listening with his arms crossed and a sullen posture, stopped Park Seung-woo.

“So you’re saying you can get the LCD panel on this schedule?”

“Yes. I suggested the idea with a concept that uses the existing process.”

“So you’re assuming that the panels that used the existing process line won’t be produced.”

“Of course. But I expect that the supply will fall short of the forecast next year…”

“Hey, let’s not make unrealistic predictions. I’ve never seen LCD panel’s predictions right.”

He was polite but there was a knife hidden in his words.

Anyone who had been eating company food for years would know.

Go Jun-gil was openly criticizing Park Seung-woo’s idea.

He deliberately recalled negative memories from the past and applied them to this case.

“The other products have a lot of time left, so I’ll let it go. But this product’s target is the first quarter of next year. It’s too fast even if it’s fast.”

“That’s…”

“I know. Of course you can make it if you want to. But will it be a proper product if you make it hastily?”

He pushed the product schedule that had nothing to do with the mockup.

“I’m not thinking of making it hastily.”

“No. I don’t think so. Even if it works, I doubt there will be much demand for touch phones. What do other people think?”

He even made a conclusion without even judging.