“Everyone worked hard.”
A Japanese restaurant near the company.
Usually a favorite venue for executive dinners, today it was the Overseas Equities and Bonds Team that had come.
After the Fed’s second giant hike, commodity prices had been soaring day after day. U.S. interest rates had finally hit 4%, and the global commodity supply chain still had not been fixed.
Among them, the one rising most overwhelmingly was, of course, gold.
Honestly, the COVID days had been good. The zero-interest-rate boom, when anything you bought went up, was over; now it was a recession of terror where even U.S. bonds felt too shaky to touch.
As U.S. rates rose, commodities climbed, and currency values fell, global stock markets ultimately flocked to safe assets. Thanks to that, an era had arrived where giving a gold ring at a baby’s first-birthday party was something only chaebol could do(?).
Which also meant that we, who had invested preemptively in commodities, had made enormous profits.
“Let me say a few words.”
Once the meal was more or less finished, Department Head Oh raised his glass.
“Our Overseas Equities Team has really been through a lot lately. The Division Head even specifically asked me to commend our portfolio managers for their hard work.”
“Wow, clap clap.”
“But the Division Head isn’t the kind of person who only pays lip service. You can look forward to this quarter’s incentive bonus. It’ll be beyond what you imagine.”
“Wow! Clap clap clap!”
“He also had a word of advice. If U.S. interest rates are like that, it’s bound to have a massive impact on the industries of major countries. He said that even if we take losses, we should wind down businesses that need to be wound down, so we should keep a sharp eye on the market for the time being. I said it at length, but what it means is we’ll be working a lot of overtime.”
“Wow... clap...”
After finishing the toast, Department Head Oh handed the corporate card to Team Leader Choi.
“I’m not the type to cluelessly hang around young people for too long. Team Leader Choi, enjoy yourselves in moderation, and come in late tomorrow. Ah, Assistant Manager Lee, you come see me for a moment.”
Department Head Oh looked at Sejun and gave him a wink.
As if he had expected it, Sejun nodded.
*
“Sorry for calling you out when you were having fun.”
“Not at all. I was just about to head home early and rest anyway.”
“Still, gukbap was a bit much, wasn’t it? If I called you out separately, I should’ve bought you something better.”
“You ordered suyuk too. I’m fine with anything.”
A strange tension flowed between Department Head Oh and me as we took seats in the gukbap restaurant.
Before the food even came out, Department Head Oh offered me a glass of soju and asked,
“Assistant Manager Lee, if there’s anything you’re upset about, just tell me.”
“...Pardon?”
“Whatever anyone says, the reason we were able to achieve these results this time was thanks to your market analysis that hit the nail on the head. The Division Head thinks very highly of you too. But why are you suddenly submitting annual leave? A whole week, at that.”
“I’m not upset about anything. There’s something I want to look into for a bit...”
“Look into, my ass! I’ve been working at the pension fund for twenty years already. You’re going to an interview, aren’t you? Where did you send your résumé? Asset? Daehan Investment? A fund company? Or did you get a scout offer?”
The pension fund paid less than the general financial sector. Especially after relocating to Jeonju, the outflow of talent had gotten worse. So when someone capable appeared, the reality was that instead of congratulating them, you prepared for a manhunt...
I smiled awkwardly.
“Department Head, I’m not the kind of guy who secretly writes résumés behind your back. I really took annual leave because there’s something I need to look into.”
“Then look into it at work. Does our company not have phones? Does it not have computers?”
“It’s not that. I think I need to meet him in person.”
“Then go on a business trip. If he’s that important, I’ll even book you a hotel in Seoul.”
“He’s in the United States right now.”
Department Head Oh flinched with the glass he had been about to empty.
“The United States...?”
“Yes. I understand he’s in Silicon Valley.”
“Who on earth is he?”
“A professor named Park Huibong. He was researching cultured meat at KAIST. But his research funding was cut off this time, so he took his research team and went to the U.S... and he’ll probably receive investment soon.”
“How on earth do you know someone like that? No, why are you taking annual leave and going all the way to the U.S. to meet him?”
“We can’t let that research team be taken.”
“What?”
“Stopping their entry into the U.S. is the first priority. The second is supporting them with investment funds and securing equity. We absolutely have to persuade them.”
Department Head Oh sighed and set down his glass.
“You little... You were plotting something even more dangerous than going to an interview. In short, you’re thinking about venture investment right now?”
“I haven’t thought as far as investment yet. I’m going to ask them to come back to Korea...”
“Hey, do you think that’ll work with empty words? Are you the Minister of Science and ICT or something? At the very least, you’d have to say you’ll support their research funds. Without money, how are you going to persuade them?”
My mouth snapped shut. He had hit the mark.
“But venture investment is the kind of investment our pension fund hates the most. If the government hadn’t set a quota, we wouldn’t have touched it with a ten-won coin.”
Nine out of ten, ninety-nine out of a hundred ventures and startups failed. For a pension fund that favored safe, complacent management, they were the most hated investment destination.
But to build the domestic startup ecosystem, the government had set quotas for venture investment. Profitability was important for the pension fund, but it also had the role of supporting domestic industry and creating jobs.
“What exactly is this Professor Park Huibong, and what’s cultured meat?”
“To put it simply, it’s a future food industry.”
“Future food? The category where ninety-nine out of a hundred companies fail?”
“...The risk is obviously high. But if it succeeds, the rewards are just as great.”
“Assistant Manager Lee, we put out the immediate fire, but the bad news of U.S. interest rates isn’t over yet. We don’t even have a feel for how those ripples will affect major countries. We’re already busy sorting out which companies are going to collapse, so does venture investment even make sense?”
“That’s why we have to do it now.”
“What?”
“Whether in the U.S. or other major countries, corporate restructuring will be inevitable for a while. But not all of them will be insolvent companies. Among the companies being cleaned out, we need to quickly put the promising ones in our basket. We can’t neglect preparations for the Fourth Industrial Revolution either.”
A crisis was an opportunity.
During the IMF crisis, our government sold off public enterprises and sold core technologies overseas while shedding tears of blood. Korea currently pays Japan massive royalties every year for agricultural and marine products, and when you consider that those were all seeds we had researched, there was no way tears of blood wouldn’t flow.
But even in those dire circumstances, we prepared for the IT era.
Building a high-speed internet network, fostering venture companies, supplying PCs to every school... We quickly prepared for the approaching Third Industrial Revolution, and thanks to that, when the long depths called the IMF crisis ended, we had become an IT powerhouse.
“...So what you’re saying is that research team is that important? Important enough that we can’t let an American company take them?”
“Yes. Looking only at their research results, they’re practically the only cultured meat research team in Korea. We have to bring them back to Korea before they receive foreign investment.”
“But why do you have to settle that within a month?”
“...As you said, Department Head, the effects of high interest rates from the U.S. will soon hit major countries. I’ll wrap this up quickly and return to my main duties.”
If my memory was correct, from the point when U.S.-origin high interest rates reached their peak, the currents in Chinese real estate would begin to shake.
So I had to finish persuading Park Huibong’s research team before then.
When my long explanation ended, Department Head Oh emptied his glass.
“Fine. Then let’s make it a business trip instead of annual leave.”
“...Pardon?”
“I still don’t know what you’re talking about, but first, persuade that research team and write up a report. If I like that report, I’ll speak to the Division Head, and if the Division Head likes it too, we’ll support the investment through the venture team.”
He spoke indifferently and held out a card.
“You said you had to go to the U.S., right? Put all the expenses on this and submit a report later.”
“Th-thank you, Department Head!”
“But I have one request too.”
“Please say anything!”
“I don’t know about the others, but for you, Assistant Manager Lee, the performance bonus might feel a little stingy. It’s not that we don’t recognize your hard work, but a government institution is just...”
Department Head Oh smacked his lips, then subtly raised his eyebrows.
“You’re not going to quit, right?”
*
Food Security.
This concept, which first appeared in the 1994 Human Development Report, became the foundation of world trade for nearly thirty years.
At the end of the century and the beginning of the next, when neoliberalism swept across the world, many countries were intimidated by the United States into opening their markets, but when it came to the food industry, they tried to hold out until the very end.
And understandably so. It was a very primal fear.
In a time when climate change was already unpredictable because of global warming, if a disaster beyond human prediction struck and ruined harvests, what use would semiconductors or anything else be?
For humanity, which had already experienced the great disaster called COVID, natural disasters and blights could only be fears beyond imagination.
But once again, the advancement of technology set humanity free.
Cellular agriculture using stem cell modification... so-called meat replication.
This industry, which first began in 2018, gained enough recognition for its safety to be distributed in the U.S. market in about five years, and it began drawing attention as the next-generation food source.
In truth, the controversy surrounding cultured meat was still ongoing, but there was one fact no one could deny. At the very least, it would liberate humanity from the issue of food security—the fear of food insecurity.
Whether or not it was commercialized, no one could deny that this cultured meat would serve as reliable insurance in such an extreme situation.
‘Park Huibong... Park Huibong.’
When the plane that had departed from Incheon neared San Francisco, I gripped the business card and sank into thought again.
Park Huibong’s research team.
If my memory was correct, his research team would receive support from Tyson, America’s largest meat company, and devote itself to cultured meat experiments.
At present, cultured meat cost roughly twice as much as ordinary meat, so it could not be commercialized due to economic feasibility. But Park Huibong’s research team would dramatically lower the cost and ignite the commercialization of cultured meat.
Thanks to the vegetarian craze sweeping the West, cultured meat grew by 300 percent every year, and after the cost revolution, ordinary consumers’ resistance also faded. Cultured meat surpassed the market share of conventional meat.
It was faint, but I remembered it very clearly.
The future I had seen was a society where the concept of “animal slaughter” had all but disappeared, where humans could consume meat without killing.
‘But Korea...’
There was a reason people said that if Edison had been born in Korea, he would have become a home appliance repairman.
Park Huibong’s research team had its research funding cut off for some reason, and after leaving Korea like that, the team even acquired U.S. citizenship and never looked back.
Thanks to that, we paid enormous royalties every year, and still wandered at the bottom in terms of food self-sufficiency.
“Ladies and gentlemen. Welcome to San Francisco...”
When the plane arrived at the airport, I tightened my grip on the business card.
At a time when listing on NASDAQ was becoming fashionable among domestic companies, we could not lose even this research team.
It probably wasn’t too late yet.