An Investor Who Sees The Future

I was forcibly dragged by Taekgyu to the Neotin headquarters in Pangyo.

I’m busy enough as it is, and I have no idea what I’m doing here. During the car ride, Taekgyu gave a long speech about the harmful effects of piracy on the content market.

”Actually, even if Hayoung’s sales have dropped, she’s not struggling to make a living. She still makes tens of thousands of dollars a month. But it’s not just about the money. How unfair would it be for her to see her work, which is like her own child, being ridiculed elsewhere?”

”I can understand how she feels.”

She was even insulted for requesting that her own work be taken down.

”Hayoung is number one on Neotin Webtoon right now. You could say she’s in the top 1 percent of all webtoon artists in terms of income. If Hayoung is suffering this much, what about the other artists? They’re completely dying out. Do people think webtoons are drawn from thin air? No, if it’s not selling because it’s not fun or the art is bad, who can you blame? You have to work harder yourself. But no matter how fun you draw it, if it doesn’t sell because of piracy, what can the artist do?”

It’s a short drive from Gangnam to Pangyo. As we were talking, I could see the building covered in blue glass, the color that symbolizes Neotin.

Neotin is the largest portal site in Korea. In addition, it is involved in various internet-related businesses such as social media, shopping, and webtoon and web novel services, and it also produces various software.

You could call it a comprehensive internet company.

The current CEO is the founder, Jung Hae-chang. He is a reclusive entrepreneur who rarely appears in the media or at external events.Therefore, I have never met him in person.

Just as each individual has their own personality, so do entrepreneurs. Some chairmen are decked out in luxury goods, while others have their worn-out shoes resoled. While some people, like Warren Buffett or Allen Eberhardt, brand themselves, others live a life secluded from the media.

Either way, each person does what suits their own style.

Since our business areas don’t overlap, we don’t have much contact. If I had to find one connection, it would be that they decided to build the largest data center in Korea in Saemangeum.

But since this is also being done in consultation with the government, it has no particular connection to us.

We parked the car in the basement and went up to the lobby. I could see employees with employee ID cards around their necks coming and going.

Perhaps because it is an IT company, the dress code is casual. No one was wearing a suit; everyone was in jeans and sneakers.

Employees were sitting comfortably and talking at an open-style cafe on one side of the lobby. The atmosphere definitely seemed more liberal than a financial company like Golden Gate.

Taekgyu pushed me on the back.

”Go on! Go and ask to see the person in charge of Neotin Webtoon.”

”Why do I have to say it?”

At my question, Taekgyu pointed to his clothes.

”If I say it, they’ll think I’m here to submit a webtoon.”

”...”

If you knew that, why didn’t you wear something other than that damn tracksuit?

I had no choice but to approach the information desk next to the central elevators.

A female employee asked.

”How may I help you?”

She didn’t seem to recognize me. Well, people usually don’t pay much attention to others. Unless they have a striking feature, they often don’t recognize famous celebrities even if they pass right in front of them.

”I’d like to see the person in charge of Neotin Webtoon.”

”Do you have an appointment?”

”No, I don’t, but I have something to discuss regarding a webtoon.”

She said kindly.

”We do not accept webtoon submissions offline, only through our website.”

”...”

Do I look like that too?

I had no choice but to reveal my identity.

”My name is Kang Jin-hoo.”

”Excuse me? Who?”

”Kang Jin-hoo.”

The female employee stared at my face for a moment. Her eyes widened, and she soon let out a scream.

”Aaaah!”

At her scream, everyone in the lobby looked in this direction.

Several employees came running.

”What’s going on?”

”What’s wrong, Miyoung?”

”Who is that person?”

She pointed at me with a surprised expression and said.

”K-Kang Jin-hoo!”

”Huh? What’s that...?”

”Wow! It’s really Kang Jin-hoo!”

”What’s going on?”

”W-wait. A picture!”

The lobby instantly became chaotic.

***

I spent a while shaking hands with the employees and taking pictures with them. They welcomed me so enthusiastically that I didn’t know what to do with myself.

I had no idea I was this famous.

We followed an employee’s guidance, passed through the speed gate, and went upstairs. Neotin Webtoon is a subsidiary company that was spun off from Neotin’s business division and is located within the company.

After waiting for a while and drinking coffee in the meeting room, the CEO of Neotin Webtoon and the team leader of the webtoon department rushed in.

Perhaps because it was an IT company, the CEO was a young man in his mid-40s. He had short blue-dyed hair and wore glasses. The team leader was a woman in her early 30s, even younger than him.

”I apologize for visiting so suddenly without an appointment.”

”Not at all. It’s an honor to have you visit. I’m Lee Baek-hoon, the head of Neotin Webtoon. This is Team Leader Park Se-na.”

I introduced Taekgyu.

”This is Vice President Oh Taekgyu.”

At my words, the two of them were surprised. Looking at Taekgyu’s appearance right now, who would have imagined that he was the vice president of OTK Company? You could call it a reverse charm.

”Ah! So this is the vice president!”

”The one who invested in OTK Games and created the OTK Award!”

Somehow, they seemed more pleased to meet me.

CEO Lee Baek-hoon said with the expression of a fan meeting a favorite celebrity.

”I saw your performance in the debate with the Ministry of Gender Equality and Family regarding game regulations.”

Taekgyu’s face was not shown and his voice was modulated, but after the debate video was released, the vice president’s recognition, skyrocketed.

Among game developers, Oh Taekgyu was even considered a messiah who came to save the Korean game industry.

”Thanks to you, we were also able to breathe a sigh of relief. It wasn’t just once or twice that they pushed for ridiculous regulations or sent official documents, not to mention game censorship and internet censorship.”

Former Minister Jin Seon-mi had visited Neotin several times to give her precious teachings that the portal site should strive for gender equality and that the gender ratio of executives should be 50-50.

The Ministry of Gender Equality and Family of the Republic of Korea is working this hard.

But unfortunately, after the debate with Oh Taekgyu, her recognition plummeted, the minister was fired, and the authority to regulate games was taken away by the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism... Well, you reap what you sow, don’t you?

After the greetings, we sat down again.

”What brings you here?”

”It’s not me, but this friend of mine has some business to attend to.”

”Ah! The Vice President?”

Taekgyu said.

”I enjoy reading webtoons, and I’ve noticed that a site called Helltokkaeng is popular these days.”

At the mention of the word Helltokkaeng, CEO Lee Baek-hoon’s expression changed completely.

”So you know about it, Vice President. I’m going crazy these days because of it.”

”Is the damage that serious?”

CEO Lee Baek-hoon said, as if expressing his frustration.

”The webtoon and web novel markets have been showing rapid growth of tens of percent every year. We’ve been continuously expanding our servers to handle the increasing traffic, but for the first time, the traffic has decreased. We are actively pursuing overseas expansion and OSMU, such as drama and movie adaptations, but in this situation, investment is bound to decrease.”

”It seems more serious than I thought.”

”And you know what’s even more frustrating? Helltokkaeng doesn’t just upload webtoons, it also runs a community. If you look, you can see posts being uploaded in real time on the free board and the review section. They watch for free, recommend, review, and curse. I’m not kidding, Helltokkaeng is currently the largest comic community site in Korea. Does that even make sense?”

”...”

Each platform, such as Neotin Webtoon, Lezhin Comics, and Toomics, has its own famous webtoons. To read these webtoons, you have to access each site separately and pay.

But Helltokkaeng has gathered all the popular webtoons in Korea in one place and made them available for free. This is why the community has no choice but to grow with it.

This is a perfect example of how bad money drives out good, isn’t it?

Team Leader Park Se-na also added a word.

”Helltokkaeng is a problem, but there are more than one or two similar sites. We have confirmed over thirty of them.”

When Helltokkaeng became a huge hit, other bastards got jealous and copycat sites sprang up like mushrooms. After all, the content can be scraped from anywhere. While they are pirating and uploading from here and there, only the artists are dying.

”I feel like the entire industry could be wiped out at this rate.”

There might be some exaggeration mixed in, but it’s also true that they are feeling a sense of crisis.

”We’re a large company and the number one player, so we can somehow endure the damage, but some startups with insufficient financial resources have suspended their services and closed their sites.”

After his passionate speech, CEO Lee Baek-hoon cautiously asked.

”But why is OTK Company interested in this matter?”

Although Taekgyu helped Min Hayoung get the license for Lost Fantasy, it was Min Hayoung’s own skill that got her a series on Neotin Webtoon.

Therefore, Neotin Webtoon knows that Min Hayoung has a relationship with OTK Games, but they don’t know that she is a close friend of the vice president of OTK Company.

What would happen if this fact were to become known?

Taekgyu said nonchalantly.

”I saw the Lost Fantasy webtoon on Helltokkaeng. Not as the vice president of OTK Company, but as a fan of Lost Fantasy, can I just stand by and watch this situation?”

”...”

Isn’t it just because of Min Hayoung? Well, half of it is probably due to his anger towards the pirates.

However, CEO Lee Baek-hoon, who was unaware of this fact, was impressed.

”Ah, so that’s what it was. Your love for games is truly amazing, Vice President.”

”I understand that the damage is serious, but are there no countermeasures?”

Team Leader Park Se-na said.

”For now, Neotin is strengthening its monitoring and filtering to prevent such illegal sites from being exposed. But you can find them all by searching on Gooble anyway...”

”What about lawsuits or site blocking?”

”We are continuously filing lawsuits and applying for website access blocking. But even if we block them, they immediately change their domain and resume their business. They create accounts on places like Facenote and Twooter, where it’s difficult for Korean law enforcement to reach, and use them for promotion and announcements.”

CEO Lee Baek-hoon said.

”It would be very effective if we could just block website access for sure.”

”I see.”

In fact, even if you block a website, you can still access it through a VPN. But less than one in ten people will go that far. Most people will give up and not watch it because it’s too much trouble, or they’ll pay to watch it.

Taekgyu said.

”Then, to prevent further damage, let’s block access to all the illegal sharing sites first.”

”We’re also continuously requesting it, but it usually takes two to three months to get it blocked.”

Basically, internet service providers are not the ones who are being harmed, so they are passive about blocking harmful sites. This is because if they block a perfectly fine site by mistake, they could be sued by consumers or companies.

”I will request that internet service providers and telecommunication companies block harmful sites in real time under the name of the Vice President.”

However, if the vice president of OTK Company personally requests their cooperation, they will not be able to easily ignore it. Since it is a clear illegal site, there is no reason for them not to cooperate.

CEO Lee Baek-hoon’s face lit up.

”W-will you really do that?”

”We have to nip these bastards who ignore the rights of creators in the bud.”

At those words, the two of them were so moved that they didn’t know what to do.

CEO Lee Baek-hoon held Taekgyu’s hand tightly with an expression that looked like he was about to burst into tears.

”I will never forget what you have done for us, Vice President.”

Taekgyu said humbly.

”Not at all. I will definitely catch the operator of Helltokkaeng and make him eat prison food.”