“At least the market share isn’t as bad as we expected.”
“Has it gone up?”
“Since New Management, electric vehicle sales in Europe have risen by 38%. But right now, every bit of that increase is a loss.”
Chairman Choi’s face was darker than ever.
The more they sold, the more they lost. And yet this was only the beginning. To withstand China’s low-price offensive backed by its authorities, Asan Motors had no choice but to pour every won it earned from internal combustion vehicles into defending EV prices.
Their retained earnings would soon hit bottom.
“I know it’s shameless to say this, but honestly, I resent the European Commission.”
“...The EU?”
“Yes. According to the analysis by the competition authorities, this is a violation of the rules. The Chinese authorities are giving them full support, from R&D funding to discounts on raw materials. They’re basically handing out subsidies across the board.”
“...”
“But isn’t the WTO agreement supposed to be that governments don’t interfere in market order? Naturally, the competition authorities should be mediating this issue, but how can they be this powerless... I truly resent them.”
I smiled bitterly.
Regrettably, all international organizations were now nothing more than social clubs. Even the permanent members of the UN Security Council had never followed UN resolutions, so who would abide by something like the WTO?
Now, even in America, with his election, he was dropping tariff bombs on neighboring countries.
The FTA that they themselves had grabbed others by the collar and forced them to sign twenty years ago was reduced to a scrap of paper; they nitpicked over trivialities to slap on tariffs; they blamed all their own failed drug problems on border countries and turned domestic discontent outward.
But despite this gangster-level economic tyranny, the WTO could not utter a single word of protest.
In truth, it would be fair to call international organizations not social clubs, but international student clubs.
“It seems your retained earnings are falling faster than expected?”
“The bigger problem isn’t the money we’re losing right now, but what comes next. Honestly, if it were corporation versus corporation, we wouldn’t lose to anyone. But this is a battle between a state and a corporation. The low-price offensive by Chinese cars isn’t a price you can achieve just because labor costs are cheap. Even with slave labor, you couldn’t match this price.”
Chairman Choi Seongjin was spending extremely difficult days.
As the company put everything it had into attacking the EV market, employee dissatisfaction was no small matter. The employees’ efforts had raised Asan Motors’ market share to third in the world, but when the incentives were not as high as expected, they had every reason to be angry.
“We’re doing all this so we can all live well together, but the union doesn’t understand that. It’s so upsetting.”
I had to say something cruel to the man whose eyes were brimming with tears.
“...Chairman Choi. Even so, you were able to rise to this position easily because you were lucky enough to have a good grandfather. Please think carefully about a balanced way for the company to grow while also ensuring employee welfare.”
“Ah, yes, yes. I suddenly made a fool of myself. Whenever I talk with you, Team Leader, I keep saying what’s really in my heart without realizing it.”
“No. I enjoyed it, thanks to you. Listening to hardships is also one of an investor’s roles.”
Since I had said something cruel once, it was time to give him a gift as well.
Taking advantage of a suitable moment in the atmosphere, I said to him.
“Chairman Choi. Actually, I came today to deliver good news.”
“Good news, you say...?”
“The pension fund has decided to create a special venture investment fund within the year.”
“Ah... yes... a venture investment fund... That’s good.”
“It will be around two trillion won.”
“Yes, yes?!”
He was startled out of his wits.
“Are you serious? Do you truly intend to invest in ventures?”
“If not, how could we allocate two trillion in assets? This is only the beginning. I’ll do my best to make sure a venture fund of at least tens of trillions can be created.”
Chairman Choi could not help but be shocked.
Let’s build a startup ecosystem. Let’s create a society that tolerates failure... These were words that every administration in history, ruling and opposition alike, had shouted, but not once had they kept them.
Rather than a hundred words of comfort, just give one million won.
If you truly wanted to revive the startup ecosystem, you shouldn’t sing a cheer for them. You had to give them money.
But that had never happened. Every administration in history had announced venture funds that were barely worth mentioning and then busied themselves taking photos.
“Y-you’re really going to create a fund worth two trillion?”
“Yes. I secured it for certain. We’ll treat this money as if it effectively doesn’t exist and use it to build the startup ecosystem.”
“That can’t be. For a conservative group like the pension fund...”
“My performance last year was quite good. This year isn’t bad either.”
Even though I confirmed it again, he still did not seem to believe me.
So I showed him my will in the clearest possible way.
“So I have a favor to ask. If there are any startups that look promising to you, or companies whose technology will take a long time to develop but that you think should definitely be challenged, please recommend a few.”
“...Are you serious?”
“Yes. I know it’s hard to throw the company’s money around recklessly because of this bleeding competition. Use that money for what it’s meant for, and use the pension fund’s money for technology development.”
“...”
“In truth, how could we know every internal detail about startups? We’ll be making the same proposal to other companies as well. All of the venture funds prepared this time will be invested in whatever way the companies want.”
He gauged my expression, then said.
“In that case, there are two places I’d really like to invest in...”
“Where are they?”
“They aren’t companies, but research teams. Autonomous driving research teams. Originally, our research team had put a lot of effort into arranging to work with them... but I hear they received a salary offer from America with one more zero attached. Would that be possible too?”
“We’ll make the investment in whatever form the company wants. Industry-academia cooperation, or if they establish a company, we’ll provide investment funds greater than the salary America offered. But will that really be enough?”
“Yes. That would be enough. Honestly, we’re good at squeezing people too. If you just match the market value of the master’s and doctoral researchers, we’ll make sure the technology advances. And the other place is...”
Chairman Choi, who had been full of wariness until just a moment ago, continued explaining like a rapid-fire gun. It was an opportunity to attract hundreds of billions of won in investment support, so there was no way he could avoid getting excited.
“Since autonomous driving came up, may I ask one more favor? Actually, this is outside of investment...”
“Please tell me.”
“We need a test bed. We desperately need one.”
Chairman Choi spoke almost as if pleading.
“I know there are many concerns, but even so, domestic autonomous driving technology is past the newborn baby stage. It’s at the stage where it needs to get out of diapers and learn to walk. But with autonomous driving regulations this severe, no matter how good the research team is, it’s difficult to advance the technology.”
“I see...”
“Beijing and New York are already operating autonomous taxis. They’re building databases amid rush hour, traffic congestion, and countless crowds.”
“Are you talking about deregulation?”
“Yes. To put it bluntly, flying cars are already being sold in America. Honestly, I’m afraid... Looking at the speed of Teslan’s technology, I can’t even tell whether the cars of the future will be electric vehicles or flying cars.”
“...”
“In the midst of all this, what meaning is there in testing autonomous driving out in remote areas? Now driverless taxis need to operate in Seoul as well. Please help us get out of diapers. If companies demand it, controversy will erupt again according to all sorts of interests, but if the pension fund raises its voice, I believe the political world will respond differently.”
He seemed to have been feeling very frustrated.
I spoke to him as he poured out his passionate argument.
“I’ll do my best. However, there are domestic political issues right now, so let’s discuss this again once that problem is resolved.”
*
Bill Gates once said.
Microsoft’s greatest competitors were not the big tech companies, but the startups in garages, creating something entirely new and different.
-Make America Greeeeeeeeeat Again!
The eventful U.S. presidential election ended in a Republican landslide, with victory confirmed eight hours after vote counting began.
In his acceptance speech, Donald shouted MAGA once again.
CNN looked at the figures standing behind him like a backdrop during that acceptance speech and predicted the nominees for cabinet positions, but every single one of them was a yes-man who would die at Donald’s word.
-Elon!!! Are you sure? Are you sure you’re a genius?! (Mustin CEO. Will you fully unleash your genius in making America great again?)
Among all those people, my eyes were drawn to one person who did not fit in at all.
Mustin stood on the podium in a very simple outfit of jeans, sneakers, and a MAGA hat, and President-elect Donald praised him as the greatest entrepreneur.
Accordingly, CNN had already put out breaking news.
Would Mustin, who had no political base whatsoever, truly take one of the key cabinet posts, or would he return to focusing on his companies?
-If you are? Okay, you are DOGE! (If that’s true, then you shall head the Department of Government Efficiency in our cabinet.)
But Donald was not a man who weighed and calculated things like that. He was a man so direct and impulsive as to be rude.
During his acceptance speech, he immediately appointed Mustin to head an important government post, making sure to properly express his gratitude for the enormous political funding.
Looking at the Republican atmosphere that had turned into a festival, I smiled bitterly.
-Mustin! Mustin! Mustin!
Damn it... In America, cars were already flying.
Aleph Aeronautics, a startup company that had received massive investment from SpaceX, had finally succeeded in launching a flying car.
The “Model A” car demonstrated by Aleph flew stably ten meters above the ground and received both safety and sales approval from the authorities, and the three thousand units available for next year’s preorders sold out in one minute.
-Teslan! Teslan! Teslan!
This was not technology that had appeared overnight.
It had taken a full ten years to get this far. Mustin had poured a tremendous amount of money into a startup with no guarantee of success, and it was impossible even to guess whether that support had amounted to hundreds of billions or several trillions.
Thanks to that, even when economic news recently raised various concerns that EV market share was plummeting and that others were catching up in technology, Teslan’s stock price did not budge.
In truth, people were not particularly curious about Teslan’s EV market share. They were curious about whether it would create something else next and surprise them again.
-Beep.
I changed the channel out of bitterness, and domestic news came on.
They said the ruling and opposition parties had reached a dramatic agreement, and that early general and presidential elections would be held at the same time. If my memory was correct, it would end in an overwhelming victory for the current opposition party, but would that really happen?
“...”
A bitter taste gathered in my mouth.
Did we truly not have a startup like Aleph...?
Autonomous vehicles still could not even drive around downtown Seoul, so how on earth was America already making and selling UFOs?