One day before the launch of KakaoTaxi, the head of planning brought very good news.
"The Seoul Taxi Union is starting a large-scale strike tomorrow. Most of the corporate taxi
drivers, except individual taxi drivers, will join the strike."
"What's the ratio between individual taxis and corporate taxis?"
"According to Seoul city data, there are over 70,000 taxis in total. Among them, 23,000 are
corporate taxis, and 48,000 are individual taxis."
Individual taxis accounted for more than 67%.
Moreover, not all corporate taxi drivers would join the strike, so it was estimated that less than about 30% of drivers would actually participate.
"So citizens won't be too inconvenienced."
"If the individual taxi union joined the strike, that would be different, but since this strike lacks a common cause like a fare hike, only corporate taxis are participating."
"Launch the KakaoTaxi taxi-hailing service to coincide with tomorrow's strike."
"We're already promoting it through various channels. Especially from KakaoTaxi's side, push notifications and banners are being used to advertise."
"That's not enough. Offer a discount to first-time users. Discounting about the basic fare would be good."
The best way to increase users was still free benefits.
If just downloading and using the app gave a discount on the basic fare, many would tolerate the trouble of installing it.
This promotion was especially attractive for students with tight budgets or office workers
spending allowance money.
"I'll make arrangements to offer basic fare discounts."
"During the strike, individual taxi drivers' wallets will get quite fat."
"I'm sincerely hoping for that."
The head of planning was always burdened with unnecessary worries.
But after tomorrow, he would realize those worries were groundless.
***
The next day.
The large-scale strike of the Seoul Taxi Union began.
From early morning, they stood shoulder to shoulder wearing red headbands.
At the very front, Seoul branch chief Cha Bong-hoon led the strike with a resolute expression.
"Stop the government's oppression of taxis!"
[Stop it! Stop it!]
Cha Bong-hoon's voice rang out harshly as he shouted.
A quick-witted union official brought a cool bottle of water before him.
"Have some water while you're at it."
"Did I push too hard from the start? This isn't a one- or two-day strike, so I need to manage my condition."
At that moment—
Whoosh! An individual taxi sped past them.
"Ptooey!" Cha Bong-hoon spat the water he had been drinking onto the ground, wearing a
displeased look.
"Some people are struggling hard for the development of the taxi industry, while those individual taxis are just out there making money."
"Still, they probably won't make much. The call companies said they will also stop operations during the strike."
"Of course they should. Who controls the call companies?"
Cha Bong-hoon tightly controlled the call companies.
With a word from him, most Seoul call companies had to halt their business.
"Still, it's very aggravating. Don't you think individual taxis are playing too much solo?"
"Just leave them be. After the strike, we won't give calls to individual taxis anymore. We'll only give calls to those who come crawling and apologize."
"That's a very good idea."
He was already thinking about retaliation.
Cha Bong-hoon was planning to make sure those who dared earn a few bucks while crossing him would face consequences.
But something he never expected was happening right now.
At the Driver's Diner.
Individual taxi drivers gathered at a restaurant to have lunch.
Since there were no corporate taxi drivers around, the restaurant had plenty of seats available, but the individual drivers were eating hurriedly.
"Who's rushing like that? Eat slowly."
"When do you think another day like today will come? We broke the highest sales record."
"You too? That CocoaTalk Taxi service is really something. It's the first time I've ever had more than ten calls pile up within five minutes."
"And it distributes work very fairly too. I don't know why we even used those call companies
until now."
They were very satisfied individual taxi drivers.
They had suffered from the call companies' abuses until now.
But now, with a new service that waives communication fees and doesn't charge commissions, how could their satisfaction not be high?
"But the commission really is free, right? They won't change their minds after a few months, will they?"
"Even KakaoTaxi has to make a living. Once they settle in, they might charge a small commission. But I heard that no matter how much they raise it, it won't go over 20%."
"The call companies charge 50%, so 20% isn't bad."
"And we don't have to suck up to the call companies anymore."
"Anything works better when a big company gets involved. With Taewoo Group stepping into the taxi business, things are great. They should have gotten involved sooner."
It was an open secret that Taewoo Group was supporting the KakaoTaxi Taxi service.
That was why, even though the taxi union was on strike, operations continued.
They believed Taewoo Group would replace the call companies and bring them more work in the future.
"Enough eating, let's get going. There are already over 20 calls stacked up. I've got to catch them before someone else does."
"Do you take calls on your phone?"
"Not just any phone, a smartphone. If you carry this, you can take calls even while eating or
smoking. You should get one too, this time."
"My son keeps nagging me to buy one. I guess we'll stop by the phone store together this time."
The individual taxi drivers chatted as they sipped their instant coffee.
They tossed their empty paper cups into the trash and headed out to pick up customers.
Even as they left, calls kept coming in, and they were silently crying out in joy.
***
The next day.
With a trembling heart, I called the planning director.
"How has the response to KakaoTaxi been?"
"It's explosive. The number of users isn't very large yet, but every customer who has used it is very satisfied. Positive feedback is coming from various communities, and word of mouth is spreading quickly, so we expect more users today."
It was a fortunate response.
After all, it was a far more innovative system than the previous taxi dispatch system, so the good reaction was natural.
We had to attract more customers before the corporate taxi union strike ended to firmly establish our position.
Once firmly established, no matter how much the taxi union or call companies tried to push us out, we wouldn't be driven away.
In fact, it was only a matter of time before the new service would completely replace the old.
"Extend the basic fare discount event. Keep it going until the strike ends."
"The number of users was small yesterday, so costs weren't high, but if the discount event runs long-term, the costs will become quite significant."
"If you think of it as buying taxi driver data daily with that money, it's still a good deal."
"Then alongside the discount event, we'll run more aggressive promotions."
"Focus your promotions on areas with lots of college students and office workers who frequently use smartphones. Also, encourage Taewoo Group employees to try KakaoTaxi at least once."
It was a race against time.
To attract as many customers as possible, we decided to even mobilize Taewoo Group employees.
"We will encourage Taewoo Group employees to use taxis during the strike period."
"Please proceed with that. I'll step out for a moment."
I entrusted promotion-related tasks to the planning director and moved to Captain Kang's office to handle other matters.
"Welcome, sir! It's been completely hectic. Since this morning, so many taxi drivers have been coming to apply for KakaoTaxi membership that we even had to bring in security."
"So the drivers who used KakaoTaxi yesterday were highly satisfied."
"You could say that! There wasn't a single driver who didn't hit their highest sales."
A system satisfying both customers and taxi drivers.
We had come halfway, and to complete the journey, one more thing had to be taken care of.
"Branch Chief Cha Bong-hoon's matter is taking a bit longer than expected."
"They say the prosecution will start a formal investigation soon. The National Tax Service has already completed collecting evidence of embezzlement, breach of trust, and tax evasion."
"Can they get away with just Branch Chief Cha Bong-hoon? Throw in a few taxi company and call center bosses along with him."
"That's not difficult. They can be sent to jail on charges of bribery and collusion alone. But if
they imprison everyone on such charges, all the taxi company presidents in Seoul might end up behind bars."
This showed just how ruthless Cha Bong-hoon was.
Taxi company presidents had no choice but to commit illegal acts to meet the bribe money he
demanded.
Especially small to medium-sized taxi companies had to squeeze every last drop out of themselves.
If all those people were booked, it would create a huge vacuum.
"Try to win over the decent ones. Tell them that if they hand over all the charges to Cha Bonghoon, they will be accepted as KakaoTaxi franchisees."
"Quite a few small taxi company presidents have already inquired about joining CocoaTaxi."
"Of course. They won't have to get extorted by the call companies anymore."
"If we convert all the small taxi companies into our franchises, Cha Bong-hoon's power will
completely collapse."
"And also thoroughly investigate Youngshin Taxi, which is said to be run by Cha Bong-hoon's father. If even the protection of his father disappears, Cha Bong-hoon will become a nobody."
What he thought was a kingdom was nothing more than a sandcastle.
Soon, Cha Bong-hoon would realize just how fragile his kingdom was and how insignificant his power truly was.
The Seoul corporate taxi union's strike continued for five days.
The longer a strike went on, the more worn out the union members became.
But even though only five days had passed, the union members looked as drained as if they had been fasting for several days.
Branch Chief Cha Bong-hoon watched this with a sigh.
"The number of participants has dropped a lot."
"The small and medium taxi companies are not joining the strike."
"What kind of confidence is that? People who should know exactly who holds the power over the call centers!"
"They say there's something called KakaoTaxi now, a taxi call service like the call centers."
"So they plan to live without looking at me anymore, huh. Tsk tsk, they don't know how the
world really works. KakaoTaxi? You think that'll work? People always prefer what they're used to!"
Cha Bong-hoon's faith in the call centers was absolute.
But he couldn't help feeling upset by the near halving of the number of strikers.
"I'm not in a good mood today. Let's wrap this up early and go grab a drink. I'll take you
somewhere nice."
"If the branch chief is going, of course I have to go."
"Call a few taxi company bosses too. Someone has to pay for the drinks."
"I'll pick the ones who open their wallets easily and bring them along."
Cha Bong-hoon was thirsty for alcohol.
He entered the pub first and poured a glass of whiskey down his throat.
At that moment—suddenly, the pub door swung open, and the police came in, holding an arrest warrant directed at Cha Bong-hoon.