The Famous Millionaire

At the office of STM President, Hyunwoo and Duyoung welcomed an important client. Chairman Konho Ahn of Ohsung Group visited the office in person.

He visited the office to discuss Super Green. Though Ohsung Group purchased a month’s worth of Super Green, that was far from satisfactory from the viewpoint of Konho who was full of desire to start an oil refinery business.

After brief exchanges of greetings, he got to the point.

“Instead of selling Super Green on a monthly basis, why don’t you sign a multi-year contract with us? Let me pay appropriately for it.”

Though his lower body was paralyzed, Duyoung was more than excited to hear Konho’s remarks.

Duyoung thought the biggest risk to STM was the bullying tactics of the existing large companies like Singyoung. They actually blocked the entry of new oil companies by abusing their connections with politicians.

In such a situation, Ohsung reached out to STM. If STM joined hands with Ohsung, Singyoung could not do anything damaging to STM no matter how powerful it was.

In fact, Ohsung won the auction of Super Green by writing down a much higher bidding price than Singyoung. Singyoung bidded 1,120 won, but Ohsung wrote down 1, 210 won.

Comparing it with the cost, Ohsung’s bidding price was 310 won higher, twice more than what Hyunwoo hoped for.

Of course, STM’s revenues for the first month would not be big enough. As its monthly production capacity was only one million liters, the net profits would be less than 100 million won when all the expenses were deducted.

But this was just the beginning.

The first factory in Daesan Port was just for the purpose of testing. Namely, it was built to find out whether the refining effects of gasoline as seen in the lab could be confirmed at the factory.

As they confirmed not only the real refining effects of gasoline but also the high selling price of Super Green, Hyunwoo and Duyoung would raise the production capacity of the factory and build a second and third factory to produce Super Green in large quantities.

By next year, they expected the monthly production would be increased by tenfold, and it would become 100 million liters five years later.

That was not all.

Hyunwoo was determined to produce Super Green overseas. In particular, America, Japan, and Europe would be STM’s main production base as there was a huge demand for gasoline there.

If Hyunwoo’s prediction came true, STM’s monthly production of Super Green five years later will be one billion liters, which will generate 2 trillion won per month with at the revenue rate of 200 won per liter.

But STM didn’t just produce Super Green. The dross of microorganisms produced as side-products in the process of refining gasoline was also its fine product.

It didn’t flex freely like fibers, but it had a tensile force. When Duyoung first experimented it, he expected it was about 350M / m3, which is similar to a spider’s web. But when he tested it again, it was 420MJ/m3.

So, Duyoung named it ‘Toughtex’ in the sense that it was a tough texture.

Toughtex was also resistant to heat, so it was also widely used as special materials for elevator construction and shipbuilding. Though Hyunwoo didn’t think about its monthly production yet, he already received a huge number of preorders from construction companies and shipbuilders.

As the unit price was good, Hyunwoo felt the production of microorganism dross could generate lots of revenues as the additional income source of Super Green.

In that respect, there was no reason for him to reject Konho’s proposal for a multi-year contract with Ohsung.

But Hyunwoo was a bit worried because he also wanted direct retail sales to general consumers.

Konho also seemed to have read his mind.

“Well, it looks like you want to deal directly with gas stations, but I don’t think that’s a good idea.”

Hyunwoo felt a sting in the heart momentarily.

But he had no reason to hide his plan. STM’s direct dealings with gas stations were not to be blamed anyway.

Hyunwoo asked bluntly, “Why do you think so?”

“Because neither STM nor retailers would get much from such dealings. I don’t mean to say Ohsung Group would make huge profits by selling Super Green right away. We’re just diversifying our business now.”

Hyunwoo agreed with that. When the business was going well, Ohsung generated more than 30 trillion won in net profits. Though Ohsung could generate more profits by selling Super Green, it could not put all its eggs in one basket called Super Green.

But Hyunwoo couldn’t understand one thing he mentioned.

“I don’t understand what you mean by not many benefits to consumers.”

“As you know, Super Green is super-premium gasoline. Typical gasoline is sold at 1,400 won, and premium at 1,900 won, which is a difference of 500 won. Despite that, premium is selling well. Do you know the reason?”

Most likely it is because those customers who preferred premium.

When Hyunwoo thought as far as that, he felt why Konho was mentioning that.

Konho continued as if to confirm his educated guess.

“I’m going to sell Super Green at a much higher than premium gasoline. I’m sure Super Green will be the monopoly of the rich. They won’t care even if we get a little more profits from Super Green.”

Hyunwoo nodded, but at the same time wondered.

‘How much is he going to sell Super Green for?’

Hearing Konho’s explanation, it seemed he would sell Super Green at a very high price.

Of course, that’s not what Hyunwoo needed to care about. But the thing was what would happen when he expanded the production of Super Green. He wondered if Konho could continue to charge high prices for Super Green even when its expanded production would cover 10% of the national consumption.

“You mentioned a multi-year contract. How many years do you have in mind?”

“How about five years?”

Hyunwoo felt that was reasonable.

But Konho this time attached an unexpected condition to it.

“In return, please give us the right to sell Super Green overseas. We want to have the exclusive right to sell Super Green abroad. Of course, the ratio of the net profits from that will be the same as you receive here.”

“Sorry, but I can’t accept your proposal.”

Konho made a curious expression at his refusal.

“Can I ask you why?”

“Well, STM plans to build factories abroad. The total production of Super Green overseas will be ten times as big as its production in Korea. Can Ohsung Group handle it?”

Konho showed surprise at that.

Originally, he planned to sell Super Green only to the super-rich at a very high price. But it would be hard to maintain that price if Super Green was increased by 1,000 times. It would be simply impossible to have all the Super Green consumed by the super-rich alone.

Konho now changed his facial expression and said in a cheerful voice,

“Haha, that’s a very good idea. I think our Ohsung Group’s dream will be realized a little earlier by that.”

“The dream of Ohsung Group?”

“Yea, we have a dream. Anyway, we can deal with any amount of Supre Green. Let’s conclude the contract. Is this beneficial to STM, too?”

Konho also mentioned something very surprising.

“I hear that Dr. Duyoung Jang’s research material on Super Green and Toughtex was published in a world academic journal. I think you can receive a Nobel prize for his achievement.”

“Nobel prize?”

Hyunwoo and Duyoung opened their eyes wider with surprise.

“Why are you surprised? Isn’t it about time our country produced a Nobel winner? Let me try my best.”

Hyunwoo looked at Duyoung, who tried to hide his facial expression, but his father was excited to hear that.

Hyunwoo nodded gladly and said, “Okay, let’s agree on a five-year contract.”

Hyunwoo sped up the additional production of Super Green. He would first raise the production capacity of the first factory to the maximum by expanding its facilities. That way he could see a three-fold increase in the production.

Duyoung was also busy. He didn’t interfere with the matters of STM factory construction or running STM. He focused on research only.

Actually, Konho’s mention of a Nobel prize influenced him. Though Duyoung achieved a lot, he seemed to have set up a new ambitious goal.

What Duyoung was newly interested in was Toughtex, the new material that he developed while producing Super Green.

The reason he was interested in Toughtex was because of Hyunwoo’s remarks in the past.

<There are no defective products in the world. They just can’t find their way into proper use.>

Duyoung thought it was the same for Toughtex.

Thanks to its tremendous tensile force and fire resistance, Toughtex was widely consumed as useful materials, but Duyoung felt it must have much more use than now.

The fact that Toughtex was a new material that nobody had ever used before also stimulated Duyoung’s ambition. He felt he would get many more outcomes if he pursued research on new materials rather than the existing materials on which a lot of research was done already.

Duyoung totally concentrated on Toughtex research alone. He didn’t show any interest when he heard that Ohsung Group was selling Super Green at 3,000 won. Neither did he show any interest when he heard Super Green was selling like hotcakes at that high price.

When the day came for the announcement of the Nobel prize on Dec. 12, he didn’t care.

The winner of the Nobel prize in chemistry was a Chinese scientist.

He just continued to research Toughtex.

At some point in the thick of research, Duyoung opened his eyes suddenly. Finally, he seemed to have discovered the genuine value of Toughtex.

“Yes, this is what I want!”