Chapter 163. Declaration of War
First, I hurried over to WF Media.
The important thing was to get there before Hong Sang-hyeok invested.
Once his money went in, I couldn't exactly say, I'm planning to destroy you, so please withdraw your investment.
WF Media's research lab was located in Daedeok.
Lee Jae-gwan was a genius among geniuses.
As if entering Korea University at the top of his class wasn't enough, he went straight through the doctoral program at his alma mater in eight years and immediately became a professor.
After sending him a polite email, I received permission to visit.
In person, Lee Jae-gwan had the same kind-looking image I'd seen in the future video.
He wasn't wearing a white lab coat or anything, but even his aura made him look intelligent.
"Nice to meet you. You said you're from a company called Universe? Actually, someone from the broadcasting industry recently visited and brought up an investment proposal."
"Someone from broadcasting? Was it PD Hong Sang-hyeok, by any chance?"
"Ah, yes. That's right. How did you know?"
I asked whether he'd accepted the investment.
He said he hadn't decided yet.
Good.
I'd arrived just in time.
"I just heard that he recently visited Daejeon, so I wondered if it might be him. But how did PD Hong Sang-hyeok learn about you in the first place, Dr. Lee?"
"Ah. Through a program called 〈Challenge Startup〉."
Apparently, KBC had a program called 〈Challenge Startup〉.
I'd never heard of it.
Lee Jae-gwan had submitted a business proposal to appear on the program, but he'd been eliminated at the document-screening stage.
"If you appear on the program and present your business, investors decide whether to invest. It's a competition show. We were desperate for research funding..."
So he'd failed before he could even appear.
But Hong Sang-hyeok had liked the business proposal enough to contact him privately.
He must have thought it would make good television material and could be used to raise the company's value.
The pieces fit perfectly with what I'd seen in the future video.
"But we don't really want to accept investment from private individuals. So I turned him down. Then he asked if we'd accept if he invested together with a securities company called... Mercedes, I think? Anyway, I said we'd consider it. That was two days ago."
Mercedes Securities?
Never heard of them either.
But I could probably guess the surname of their president.
President Yang.
He'd appeared in the golf-course conversation too.
So he was part of Hong's group.
"If that's the case, there's a possibility he deliberately rejected your program application so he could invest by himself."
Lee Jae-gwan fell silent for a moment.
That was probably exactly what had happened.
The project looked professional and clearly had potential.
Hong probably wanted to keep the profit for himself.
Dragging President Yang in was likely just something he'd done because he had no choice if he wanted to persuade Lee Jae-gwan.
"I've decided not to think that way. Like I said, we're desperate for money. Whatever his intentions were, does it really matter?"
I understood that feeling very well.
"And as it happens, there's one project that could earn us quite a lot of money if we can just raise a little more investment."
"What kind of project?"
Lee Jae-gwan answered.
"We've been repeatedly approached about providing technical support for a program called 〈Candyman〉. You know singer Kim Gwang-yeon, right? They said if we could properly recreate his voice and hologram, they could build an entire episode around it."
Kim Gwang-yeon?
Wasn't the Kim Gwang-yeon hologram supposed to be Hong Sang-hyeok's program idea?
"Was the 〈Candyman〉 idea also PD Hong Sang-hyeok's?"
"What? No. I've been receiving that proposal for quite some time. It has nothing to do with PD Hong Sang-hyeok."
First of all, 〈Candyman〉 was a famous program.
A veteran singer with numerous hit songs would perform one song, and viewers ranging from teenagers to people in their fifties would light up bulbs to show whether they recognized it.
Apparently, they had already been planning an episode that recreated the stage of the late singer Kim Gwang-yeon.
But in the future video, Hong had talked as if the idea had been his.
I could roughly guess what had happened.
Hong learned that cash-strapped Lee Jae-gwan couldn't afford to accept 〈Candyman〉's technical collaboration request.
So he stole the idea.
Something like, I'll fund you, so reveal the Kim Gwang-yeon hologram on my show instead.
This guy was an overwhelming level of scumbag.
It wasn't enough that he planned to sell off the research of a man who'd abandoned an honorable professorship at Korea University to dedicate himself to his work.
He was even stealing ideas from another PD in the same industry.
"Could I see the technology? The hologram. Sometimes when I take Japanese taxis, I see something like that on the windshield."
"Japanese cars? Ah. You mean HUDs? Those were made by a Japanese company. Their operating mechanism is completely different from ours. We produce HUDs too, but the hologram we're talking about now is something else. Anyway, I'll show you."
I moved with Lee Jae-gwan to another room.
Since this was a place conducting advanced research, I'd expected to put on goggles and protective gloves and pass through dozens of secure doors.
Instead, he led me into an ordinary conference room.
"HUDs are quite different from what we usually imagine when we hear the word hologram. There's still a physical screen, namely the windshield. Japanese technology is more advanced than ours in that field, but the reason HUDs are more common in Japan than Korea isn't purely a matter of technology. Tinting is illegal in Japan, you know?"
Come to think of it, Japanese taxis with HUDs did seem to have very bright windshields.
"Of course, if the light is too strong at night, it can interfere with visibility, so there are additional technologies involved... Ah, I'm talking too much. Sorry. I'm a researcher, so I don't get many opportunities to talk."
"Not at all. It's interesting."
Lee Jae-gwan stepped onto the small presentation platform and operated something.
Then three pieces of hologram equipment, each resembling a massive projector, switched on.
A hologram of Lee Jae-gwan appeared in midair.
"Whoa. What is this? Is there some kind of invisible vapor or mist?"
"No. Nothing like that."
I moved around the conference room and viewed the hologram from different angles.
It was exactly the kind of hologram you'd see in a science-fiction movie.
"This is incredible! The technology is already this complete, and you still can't get investment?"
"Yes... Those two projectors create the three-dimensional image, and that central projector amplifies the interference wavelength. Just developing these three devices alone costs... Anyway, it's extremely expensive."
It certainly looked expensive.
Still, this was practically straight out of a movie.
"Do you need investment? I'd like to invest."
"I hope I haven't dazzled you too much visually... This really is expensive. Installing one in every car would be close to impossible."
The visuals had surprised me.
But that wasn't why I wanted to invest.
I already knew this technology would trigger an investment craze soon, even if it wasn't fully complete yet.
