A few days after meeting with Representative Choi Jae-seok, he began visiting various
politicians, and finally—today—the issue of KEPCO's relocation surfaced publicly.
"Vice Chairman, both the ruling and opposition parties have agreed to Representative Choi Jaeseok's bill proposing the regional relocation of KEPCO."
"The ruling party, I understand. This administration has been strongly pushing for balanced regional development, even bringing up relocating the administrative capital. But the opposition too?"
"It seems they're using KEPCO's relocation as a countermeasure to block the capital relocation. One opposition politician even said in a TV interview that relocating public enterprises to the provinces could achieve similar effects without moving the capital."
Though their intentions differed, both parties were in agreement about relocating KEPCO's
headquarters.
Their reasons didn't matter to me—as long as they supported the move, that was enough.
"How is KEPCO responding? They must be fiercely opposed."
"Headquarters staff are threatening to go on strike."
"Do they think KEPCO only employs people in Seoul? There are plenty of employees working in the provinces. Use them to apply pressure on the headquarters staff."
"We'll try to mobilize the regional KEPCO employees through various channels. First, we'll use our friendly media outlets to air interviews with provincial KEPCO employees."
It was a classic divide-and-conquer strategy.
Split the KEPCO employees at headquarters from those working in the provinces.
If the entire organization united in opposition, it would be a problem. But in reality, there were far more KEPCO employees working outside of Seoul than in it.
We could frame it as: Seoul headquarters employees are enjoying special privileges.
With that, we could sway the majority of regional employees to support the relocation.
"Also, shift public opinion. The more negative press there is about KEPCO, the more momentum we'll gain for the relocation."
"We'll start media coverage suggesting they receive excessive bonuses. We'll also highlight
KEPCO's growing deficits through the press."
"That should be enough. Be sure to emphasize that relocating the headquarters could wipe out KEPCO's deficits in one stroke."
"Understood. We'll proceed accordingly."
The plan for KEPCO's relocation was more or less in place.
But the strategy director remained in his seat, as if there was still more to report.
"Is there something else you wanted to say?"
"Taewoo IT has completed development of the navigation app. It's polished enough to launch
commercially right away."
"Really? I should hear directly from Chun Min-jung."
"I'll call her to your office immediately."
Only then did the strategy director leave.
While I was reviewing other tasks, Chun Min-jung arrived at the vice chairman's office.
"I heard the navigation app is complete. You've worked hard. Make sure to issue a generous
bonus, not just to Team Leader Cheon, but to her entire team."
"We didn't work hard enough to deserve bonuses. All we did was apply existing technology and data with added AI algorithms and voice recognition. I just polished up the UI a bit by combining several previously designed layouts."
She made it sound simple.
But for any other company to build a navigation app of this calibre, it would've taken over a year.
They had finished a year-long project in just one month—bonuses were more than deserved.
"It might have felt simple for you, but it won't be simple for others. Ultimately, the users will
decide how good it is. I assume you're okay with linking bonuses to user feedback?"
"Well… yes. But honestly, the app is still pretty incomplete. It needs far more data to function properly. Right now, it's more like a superficial prototype."
She twirled her hair around her finger as she spoke.
To anyone else, the app looked highly complete—but to Chun Min-jung, it was still an embarrassing work-in-progress.
"We can roll it out and improve it through updates. It already outperforms anything else on the market—you have no reason to feel embarrassed."
"Even with updates, improvements will be limited. The problem is a lack of data."
"From now on, all smartphones sold by Taewoo Telecom will come with your navigation app preinstalled. We'll also recommend it to every customer who visits our stores. That'll bring in a large user base quickly."
After all, data comes with users.
If Taewoo Telecom pushed it hard, the app could shoot to the top of the navigation industry.
"Even if we get more users, we still won't have the right kind of data. We need more specialised data—the kind that comes from people who drive professionally."
"By professional drivers, you mean taxi drivers, buses, and freight trucks?"
"If we can collect enough data from taxi drivers, we could dramatically boost the app's
performance!"
She could've just said that from the start.
So, all we need is taxi driver data?
"I'll find a way to collect data from taxi drivers. That's all you need, right?"
"If we can collect data just from taxi drivers in the capital region, we can already make a huge improvement to performance."
"Let's start by reaching out to taxi companies in the Seoul metro area, and then gradually expand to companies nationwide."
Perhaps because we had found a solution, Chun Min-jung's expression looked noticeably
brighter.
She beamed with a smile, like a child sucking on candy, her eyes curving into cheerful crescents.
"I'll head back now. I've still got a lot of ongoing projects, so I can't stay away for long."
"Of course, go ahead. If you need it, feel free to use the executive car."
"If I ride at this hour, it'll only take longer. I'll just take the subway!"
With a confident tone, she left the vice chairman's office.
But to my eyes, she looked more like a toddler waddling away—cute and endearing.
Only after she boarded the elevator did I notice the strategy director still waiting in the reception room.
"Director, come in."
"You told me to stand by, so I was waiting."
"According to Team Leader Chun, taxi company data is key to improving the navigation app's performance. Start by partnering with companies in the capital region to collect the data."
"I'll try to finalise contracts with taxi companies in the metro area as soon as possible. What
about the official release date for the navigation app?"
"Stick with the original schedule. We'll just improve performance through updates later. Even now, it outperforms most other navigation apps on the market."
"Then we'll begin a large-scale marketing campaign and officially launch it at the end of this month."
It was the start of yet another new venture.
But for this particular project, the goal wasn't profit. The real focus was on collecting data to
develop autonomous driving systems in the future, so my expectations weren't necessarily
centred on short-term revenue.
It had been fifteen days since Taewoo Group's navigation app was released.
To report on performance and the current situation, the strategy director and Lee Ju-young, CEO of Taewoo Telecom, visited the vice chairman's office.
"The response to the navigation app, Taewoo Map , has been extremely positive. In particular, satisfaction is very high among office workers who commute by car."
"I'm glad to hear the feedback is good. How much has the user base grown?"
"Yesterday alone, we surpassed 100,000 users. We're breaking daily records, and with continued promotion through TV and radio ads, we expect daily users to exceed 500,000 by the end of this year."
That was a lower number than I expected.
But that was because smartphones hadn't yet achieved full market penetration.
While iPhones were wildly popular among younger generations and Samsung Electronics'
smartphones were selling well, it still wasn't enough.
Smartphone penetration had to exceed at least 50%.
And for that, it would take a few more years.
Now I understand why Chun Min-jung insisted on needing data from taxi companies.
"Keep running promotions to increase the user base. And how are the negotiations with the taxi companies going?"
"We've hit a bit of a snag. We finalised deals with a few taxi companies in Seoul, but suddenly they all notified us they were backing out."
"All of them pulling out at once? That suggests someone's working behind the scenes."
"It seems the head of the Seoul branch of the taxi labour union is playing games."
"What's the reason for the interference?"
"He's trying to weigh us against KS Telecom. We've confirmed that shortly after our visit, he had a meeting with KS Telecom."
So they were trying to start a bidding war?
Well, it made sense. The more buyers you had, the higher price you could command.
From our standpoint, it was a hassle, but I couldn't really blame the union head.
He was simply acting in the best interest of the union members.
"So in the end, he's asking for more money. Give him the price he wants and sign the deal."
"He's demanding amounts in the hundreds of millions of won. If we sign contracts with taxi
companies nationwide, it'll cost us at least several billion won."
"Even if it costs 10 billion won, it's fine. Just finalise the deal quickly. I don't want to waste time on this. Consider it buying time with money—just get it done."
"Understood. I'll personally meet the Seoul union leader and begin negotiations."
I hadn't thought much of it.
I assumed gathering taxi company data was something we could resolve with enough cash.
But the report the strategy director brought back after the meeting made it clear this wouldn't be so simple.
"Negotiations failed. The Seoul branch chief seems to have decided to sell the taxi data to KS
Telecom."
"Is he in a position to make that decision alone?"
"The thing is, the head of the Seoul branch controls all the call dispatch companies nationwide. If you get on his bad side, you won't receive any calls, so taxi drivers can't go against him."
In this era, calling a taxi was the norm.
Before the regression, taxi dispatching was done through smartphone apps.
But now, you have to call the taxi company or a dispatch operator to have a taxi sent to your
location.
If the Seoul branch chief had control over the dispatch companies—
That meant he was in a position to rule over the taxi drivers.
To earn good revenue, drivers needed a steady flow of long-distance calls. If the Seoul branch chief could manipulate that at will, it meant he had absolute power.
"To weaken the Seoul branch chief's influence, we'll need to strip the dispatch companies of their power first."
"That won't be easy. They operate like a cartel, and their ties with the taxi union are strong. Even the political world is hesitant to interfere."
"Let's find out just how untouchable he really is. Start by talking to taxi drivers and collecting any complaints they have about the branch chief or the dispatch companies."
Originally, we'd approached the taxi companies just to collect data.
But things were taking an unexpected turn, and it was becoming clear that I would have to get
involved more directly