Free Web NovelZhang Zhidong arrived at Incheon Airport with his staff.
“So this is Korea.”
Muttering quietly, the shock was clearly written on Zhang Zhidong’s face. He looked around Incheon Airport for a long time.
There weren’t many airports in the world that were this well-built.
As he exited the arrivals hall, he saw a panel with his name on it.
Zhang Zhidong walked toward it along with his staff.
“Hello, I’m Zhang Zhidong.”
“Ah, nice to meet you! Welcome to Korea. I’m Gong Jinju, assigned to guide you, Vice President. I’m from HS Venture Capital.”
“You speak Chinese well. Judging by your accent, you seem to be from Hong Kong—is that correct?”
Gong Jinju nodded. Covering her mouth slightly as she laughed, she answered.
“That’s right. I lived in Hong Kong for a long time. Should we head to the office first? Please follow me this way.”
Following her guidance, Zhang Zhidong and the staff moved.
In front of the airport, a car that had been waiting in advance was already parked.
“Vice President, you’ll be riding with me, and the rest of the people can take the van behind us.”
Smiling, she pointed at a luxury sedan. Opening the door, she looked at Zhang Zhidong.
“Please get in, Vice President Zhang Zhidong.”
“Thank you.”
Zhang Zhidong got in first, and then the Tencent staff boarded the van.
After confirming they had all gotten in, Gong Jinju boarded last.
“What do you do at HS Venture Capital, Miss Gong?”
“I work as a senior investment officer. Before coming here, I worked at HSBC.”
“You left HSBC to join a Korean venture capital firm? Why on earth?”
HSBC, Hongkong and Shanghai Banking Corporation, was one of the biggest banks in the world—easily among the top five.
Leaving such a place to join a Korean venture capital company was unthinkable.
When Zhang Zhidong asked curiously, Gong Jinju answered as if she had heard the question many times.
“The conditions were better. And I liked the idea of living in Korea. Hong Kong isn’t exactly the most comfortable place to live, as you know.”
“But your career matters too, doesn’t it? Career-wise, the two places aren’t even comparable.”
“That’s something I can build myself, so it doesn’t matter much. I’m satisfied with my job here.”
One would expect her to value her résumé more, but she answered without concern.
Her confident demeanor made Zhang Zhidong even more curious.
Just what kind of company was HS Venture Capital, if even someone like her was satisfied with it?
“What kind of person is the CEO of HS Venture Capital?”
“Our CEO? He’s a very good person. He has no prejudice, and he listens sincerely to his employees’ advice. He’s an excellent superior.”
And she changed jobs because of something like that? Zhang Zhidong asked again with a puzzled expression.
“Are there companies that don’t listen to their employees’ advice? Isn’t that the majority? Especially in investment banks or venture capital firms, I’ve heard they give analysts considerable autonomy.”
“Korea doesn’t have that kind of culture. China is similar, I believe. Ah, IT companies may be a bit different. Anyway, in Korea, finding a company like ours is more difficult.”
Thinking of her previous workplace, a faint frown appeared on her face.
But only for a moment—soon she returned to her smiling expression, meeting his eyes through the rearview mirror.
“...I see. So CEO Park Hyunseong listens well to people.”
“Of course. That was one of the biggest reasons I decided to leave HSBC and join this company. I’m truly satisfied here.”
There wasn’t the slightest hint of dishonesty in her voice or face. She looked genuinely content. freewebnoveℓ.com
Zhang Zhidong found himself liking her confidence.
“You say you’re satisfied, but if you ever consider changing jobs, please keep Tencent on your list. Someone like you would always be welcome.”
“Thank you for thinking of me so highly.”
Zhang Zhidong was sincere, but Gong Jinju seemed to take it as a polite formality.
So he emphasized again.
“I’m not joking—I mean it. Please think [N O V E L I G H T] about it seriously. I promise you’ll receive better treatment than at HS Venture Capital.”
“I’m not thinking of changing jobs right now. But if I ever do consider it, I’ll think of Tencent first.”
Only then did Zhang Zhidong reply with a satisfied expression.
“Excellent. That’s good. I have a good feeling about this trip to Korea. Haha!”
The cheerful sound of Zhang Zhidong’s laughter filled the car for quite a while.
The car carrying Zhang Zhidong left Incheon Airport at high speed and entered Seoul.
The vehicle headed straight to HS Venture Capital’s office. When they entered, several people were already waiting.
“I’m Zhang Zhidong, Vice President of Tencent. I hope this meeting becomes a valuable encounter that determines our shared future.”
The person who shook his hand was Kim Taejeong, CEO of TJ Soft.
“Nice to meet you. I’m Kim Taejeong. Thank you for coming all this way.”
After greeting Kim Taejeong, Zhang Zhidong looked at the person next to him.
He was broad-shouldered and had a stern-looking face—enough to be intimidating for a moment.
But the moment he opened his mouth, that impression vanished. Park Hyunseong greeted him with a gentle voice.
“I’m Park Hyunseong, CEO of HS Venture Capital. I’ve heard much about you.”
“Oh, CEO Park! It’s a pleasure to meet you like this.”
Zhang Zhidong greeted Park Hyunseong with even greater warmth than he had shown to Kim Taejeong. ƒгeewёbnovel.com
“Let’s sit and talk.”
Kim Taejeong guided everyone to their seats, and the real discussion began.
The first to speak was Kim Taejeong.
“We read all the materials you sent from Tencent. But nothing has been prepared. It only talks about rosy futures without any concrete details. How exactly will you service our game in China?”
He began by criticizing them outright. This negotiation wasn’t something he had wanted to do.
It was obvious from his tone and face.
But Zhang Zhidong simply smiled warmly.
The website wasn’t open yet, but everything was already prepared internally.
“All the technical preparations are complete. The only thing left is to open the site. Once we secure a game to service, we can launch immediately. If we link it with QQ, we can secure over 100 million users.”
“I know QQ. The dominant messenger in China. I’m aware of QQ Show as well. But messengers and games are completely different businesses. Even if you have 100 million users, that doesn’t mean they’ll all play games. We don’t need 100 million—we just need even one person who will play our game.”
With a cold tone, Kim Taejeong countered. To this, Zhang Zhidong confidently replied:
“You don’t need to worry about that. The moment the game launches in China, we’ll run an event linking QQ and QQ Show, so users will naturally encounter the game. If you succeeded in Taiwan, you can succeed even bigger in China. And working with us means reaping even bigger rewards.”
At his overwhelming confidence, Kim Taejeong raised one eyebrow.
“You’re quite confident. It’s a game that hasn’t even launched in China yet.”
“I heard CEO Kim Taejeong founded TJ Soft with nothing. We also started Tencent from nothing. And now we’ve grown into one of China’s major companies. We chose games as our future food source. Meaning this isn’t a one-time deal—we want a long-term relationship between Tencent and TJ Soft. Look at the long term, CEO Kim.”
“The future... What kind of future do you see, Vice President Zhang?”
“A future where games aren’t just games, but a part of people’s everyday life.”
Zhang Zhidong answered firmly.
His eyes were glowing with passion and anticipation.
“The world is changing rapidly day by day. And China is changing faster than any other country. With billions of people, our population is our greatest weapon. Even if you secure ten million users in Korea, you can secure ten times that in China. China will become the center of global gaming.”
“You hold great faith in the Chinese market. But politically and socially, it’s not exactly a free country. It wouldn’t be strange if regulations were imposed at any moment. Even now, we can’t service our game without a contract with a Chinese company.”
For the first time since entering the meeting room, the smile vanished from Zhang Zhidong’s face.
It was a sharp point—and a sensitive topic.
He had been badly burned before, so his reply naturally turned sharp.
“I don’t understand why politics is being brought into our business. Tencent came to Korea to service TJ Soft’s game in China. The government has no place in this discussion.”
“The stories from CEOs who have already entered China are very different. They say the Chinese government—and even Public Security—greatly affects business.”
“Tencent is different. So you do not need to worry about such things. Let’s focus on business, CEO Kim.”
As Zhang Zhidong’s displeasure showed, Kim Taejeong raised both hands with a small laugh.
“I can’t help but worry. I didn’t mean to offend. Anyway, let’s talk about terms. CEO Park said we should absolutely sign with Tencent, but we won’t do it unless the terms are good. That’s CEO Park’s promise.”
Zhang Zhidong’s expression hardened at the attempt to brush things aside.
Park Hyunseong let out a deep sigh.
Reading the room from the start, and now sharpening their words—it already looked like this would become a long battle.
“Let’s hear the terms first. There’s no need for unnecessary posturing...”
At that moment, the meeting-room door opened.
“Hello, everyone. It’s good to see you all.”
Kim Muhyuk entered with a smile. Zhang Zhidong immediately stood up in excitement.
“President Kim Muhyuk!”
Kim Muhyuk extended his hand to him first.
“Vice President Zhang Zhidong. It feels even better to meet you in Korea. Why not enjoy some sightseeing instead of only business?”
Laughing loudly, Zhang Zhidong shook his hand.
“Haha! From Incheon Airport onward, I realized this Korea is different from what I knew. I’ll extend my stay to look around more. Could you recommend some nice places?”
“Of course. We’ll talk about that later...”
Kim Muhyuk glanced at Park Hyunseong.
“I didn’t come for nothing, right?”
“No, you came at the right time. You said you might not make it, but here you are.”
“I postponed everything to tomorrow. A distinguished guest from China is visiting—of course I should make time.”
Thanks to Kim Muhyuk, the icy atmosphere softened a bit.
With a sigh of relief, Park Hyunseong introduced Kim Muhyuk to the stiff, motionless Kim Taejeong.
“This is President Kim Muhyuk. He’s my friend, but also our company’s largest investor. And...”
Kim Muhyuk cut him off. A long explanation would do no good.
“CEO Kim Taejeong. Nice to meet you. I’m Kim Muhyuk.”
Kim Taejeong, looking dazed, took his hand.
“Nice to meet you. I’m Kim Taejeong.”
“This deal is something I asked Hyunseong to handle, but it seems CEO Kim Taejeong doesn’t quite like it.”
Kim Taejeong nodded.
“How could I like it? I’m being told to ignore larger companies and sign with a company that just entered the market.”
At his blunt words, Kim Muhyuk tilted his head.
“Is it that the terms don’t satisfy you?”
“Terms aside, the scale is completely different, isn’t it? The scale.”
His attitude clearly showed dissatisfaction. Looking at him, Kim Muhyuk raised the corner of his mouth.
It wasn’t the warm smile he had shown Zhang Zhidong and Park Hyunseong, but a cold smirk.
“Scale, you say... Since when did TJ Soft start talking about scale? Not long ago, weren’t you the CEO who personally ran to PC rooms delivering CDs?”
