I continued massaging my grandfather's shoulders.
Then, suddenly, he brought up a different topic.
"But we should start the inheritance process soon. The overall group's stock price has fallen a lot since acquiring Hyundai Semiconductor."
My grandfather's shoulders tensed abruptly.
While a falling stock price was advantageous for inheritance, it negatively affected everything else.
"As soon as the inheritance process is complete, we will proceed with share buybacks and cancellations. Then the stock price will rebound."
"I hear many foreign investors have sold out as well. I'm not sure if that's possible."
I couldn't bring myself to tell him that the foreign investor was me.
So I reassured him with a confident tone.
"I will make sure the stock price not only rebounds but breaks its upper limit within a year."
"Ha ha, that's my grandson. Opportunities are born from crises. If you settle for reality just because it's difficult, you are bound to fall."
"I will keep that in mind. That's why I planned to invest Taewoo Electronics' and Taewoo Telecom's retained earnings into Taewoo Semiconductor. First, we will inject about 3 trillion won urgently, then invest more to normalize Taewoo Semiconductor."
With a swift motion, my grandfather pushed my hand away.
Then he turned to face me and looked me straight in the eyes.
"Are you confident?"
"It's not about confidence or not. It's something that must be done no matter what."
"If you fail, we could end up like the Hyundai Group."
"Even if that happens, I have confidence I will survive."
"Where did such a man come from? Ha ha."
I knew very well how much my grandfather worried about Taewoo Semiconductor.
If I wanted to prevent the things he worried about from happening, I had to move even busier.
***
The year 2000 was just a few days away.
Since last month, we had started producing the semiconductors Apple wanted.
After a month had passed, Executive Director Yoo Seok-jae came to the vice chairman's office with the yield report.
"Your face looks worn out. You look like you're half yourself. I should take you to a good Korean medicine clinic and get you some herbal medicine."
"I'm sorry. The yield is worse than I thought."
"Why apologize? It doesn't matter how many defective products come out. Even if the yield is only 10%, it's fine, so keep your head up."
Executive Director Yoo's eyes were moist.
But he soon composed himself and continued the report.
"At the start of semiconductor production, the yield was around 50%, but now we have raised it to 55%. As the operators adapt to the new equipment, it should improve a bit more."
"The yield is better than I expected. Just keep it up like this."
"I have one more thing to report."
Confidence was evident in Executive Director Yoo's voice.
He must have brought good news.
"Have you succeeded in developing a new product?"
"Yes. We have succeeded in developing a 128M DDR SDRAM for graphics. I can confidently say it operates faster than the products of any other semiconductor company."
Indeed, Hyundai Semiconductor's technology was by no means lacking.
It was simply the lack of money that prevented proper R&D.
When Taewoo Group poured massive investment, results began to appear quickly.
"Thank you for your hard work. The technology research institute has also been instructed to closely cooperate with Taewoo Semiconductor, so it will be a help."
"With the help of the technology research institute and Taewoo Electronics, we can quickly develop 256 DDR SDRAM as well."
"As you know, please focus a bit more on developing mobile DRAM."
"We've already started improvements and expect to announce good results by the first half of next year."
Yoo Seok-jae possessed S-grade technical development skills.
Despite having such talent, Hyundai Semiconductor had collapsed.
The explosive power of the dot-com bubble could only be described as tremendous.
"Isn't it very busy handling both technology development and site management?"
"To be honest, two bodies wouldn't be enough.
But if I can just normalize Taewoo Semiconductor, I'm ready to sacrifice myself."
Would someone as talented as Yoo Seok-jae sacrifice themselves like that?
He was someone who needed maximum protection to work for Taewoo Semiconductor for a long time.
So, someone was needed to manage the site on his behalf, and just then, that person arrived.
"Please bring the guest inside."
I used the vice chairman's private phone to contact the secretariat.
Not long after, a person with a warm impression entered the vice chairman's office.
He greeted me fluently in English, and I greeted him back in English as well.
"Nice to meet you. My name is Wei."
"Thank you so much for coming all this way!"
Wei, the key figure behind TSMC's success, had arrived at Taewoo Group.
I had essentially taken away the person who would become TSMC's future CEO.
But that was not a problem.
TSMC had not yet fully entered the foundry business.
"Please introduce yourselves. Executive Director Yoo, can you communicate in English as well?"
"Thanks to my time at Hyundai Semiconductor's U.S. branch, I can communicate sufficiently."
Executive Director Yoo Seok-jae and Wei greeted each other and shook hands.
A historic moment where Yoo, who made Hyundai Semiconductor a leading company, and Wei, who made Taiwan's TSMC the number one foundry company, shook hands.
"From now on, the two of you will lead Taewoo Semiconductor. You will be appointed joint vice presidents within this month, so keep that in mind."
"You mean I'm being appointed vice president?
There are many executives with longer tenure than me."
"What does tenure matter? Ability is what counts. If they try to play office politics, report them immediately. I'll pass the responsibility for the 2 trillion won deficit onto them."
Meritocracy.
Though it was a management style fraught with many problems, it was the only way to save the failing Taewoo Semiconductor.
If someone had ability, they could be promoted to vice president regardless of rank.
Conversely, founding members without ability had to be decisively cut.
"Oh! And starting tomorrow, about 100 technicians will join, including Vice President Wei. They all have experience working either in the U.S. or Taiwan, which will help with the personnel shortage."
"Thank you. I will make sure to deliver good results."
Executive Director Yoo Seok-jae bowed respectfully.
Unlike him, Wei, the new vice president, was full of composure.
"I came to Korea because I was told I could manage Taewoo Semiconductor the way I wanted. I'd like to hear that again as a firm answer."
"I'm giving you full authority. Of course, you should consult with Executive Director Yoo."
"Talking with engineers is always enjoyable.
I'm also an engineer by background."
Vice President Wei studied semiconductors in the U.S.
He was a figure as outstanding in management as he was in semiconductor technology development.
That was why we went to great lengths and costs to bring him to Korea.
***
The new year of 2001 dawned.
Though the sun rose brighter than any other year, Taewoo Group's situation was very grim.
That was why my grandfather's expression was very dark as he listened to the Bosingak bell ringing.
"Even though we are conducting share buybacks, Taewoo Group's stock is still falling."
"I expect it to maintain or slightly decline until the first half of the year."
"Do you think it will rebound from the second half? How can it rebound when the semiconductor yield isn't even 60%? If the media digs into this, won't the stock fall even further?"
The semiconductor yield was a company's top secret.
But nowadays, it was unavoidable to disclose the yield.
That was necessary for expense accounting.
Especially since grandfather had obtained tax reduction benefits from the government.
Therefore, semiconductor yield had to be transparently disclosed.
"Apple's new product will launch soon. And Taewoo Semiconductor will have an exclusive supply contract for some of the semiconductors inside. Isn't that good news?"
"The more semiconductors we produce, the more losses we suffer. How can that be good news?"
"As experience accumulates, we will solve the yield issue eventually. In just one month, the yield has already risen by nearly 5%."
Vice Presidents Yoo Seok-jae and Wei worked well together.
They shuttled between the field and office, innovating Taewoo Semiconductor.
And the new hires were personally selected by me, all talents with A-grade or higher abilities.
Taewoo Semiconductor was composed only of elites.
So it was clear that profitability would return faster than history predicted.
"Hmm, but you seem to have high hopes for Apple's new phone. But after all, it's just a phone.
Isn't the phone market already saturated?"
"It's not a phone; it's a smartphone. It's clearly a masterpiece that will overturn not only the phone industry but the entire IT sector."
"Hmm, since you say so, I'm getting interested too. Let's go to CES together. It's been a long time since I've been to America."
"Isn't it really rare to go on a trip with grandfather?"
I was as happy as a child going on a picnic.
I had never traveled with my grandfather before, neither in this life nor in a past one.
But my grandfather poured cold water on my excited mood.
"We'll take separate planes. If there's a plane crash, one of us has to survive, right?"
"You're not going to stay in separate hotels too, are you?"
"Of course we must. But we'll enter the CES venue together."
It was an unavoidable matter.
If both the company chairman and vice chairman were involved in an accident, Taewoo Group would be paralyzed.
The same went for other companies.
As far as I knew, only two people knew Coca-Cola's recipe, and they never flew on the same plane.
Because if they both had an accident, the recipe would be lost.
"Since we're going to America together, how about attending the U.S. presidential inauguration as well?"
"Didn't the White House invite us?"
"If you say that grandfather is attending, they'll make a seat even if none is available."
"Hmm, but I don't think I can be away for two weeks. I'll just attend the CES event and return to Korea. You can attend the presidential inauguration."
I wanted to introduce President Bush to my grandfather.
But I couldn't force such a harsh schedule, so I followed my grandfather's wishes.
"It would've been a good memory if we attended together. It's a shame."
"It can't be helped. You've stirred up so much work. Someone has to clean it up."
I had no words to argue with that.
Taewoo Group had grown to more than twice its size compared to before the foreign exchange crisis, and my grandfather's workload had increased drastically.
"I feel very reassured with grandpa here.
If I were alone, it would've fallen apart a long time ago."
"The inheritance process is almost finished.
Now you should take over the work I was doing, shouldn't you?"
"No, I will take it over slowly."
I quickly gestured no, worried that my grandfather might announce his retirement.
If grandfather retired, I would be buried under a pile of paperwork.
So I hoped he would remain as the head of the group as long as possible.