Chapter 09
The seminar moved into the Q&A session with the audience. After a few questions in English, someone suddenly asked a question in French.
“This exhibition doesn’t include ‘Appple,’ the world’s largest innovative company. How do you see Samsung Electronics’ future competition with them, and what do you predict for the overall smartphone market trends? Also, I’d like to hear your outlook on future smartphone trends.”
Without a moment’s hesitation, Cha Ji-hoo communicated fluently with him in French, and once again, the audience buzzed with amazement. Vice Chairman Lee Jin-yong was no exception.
“Heh heh, my, my. Now even French.”
However, that person’s question—a French IT journalist—was somewhat off-topic for the session. Because it wasn’t about the ‘Galaxy M’ product itself, the branch manager and the development team leader could only give principled answers with somewhat perplexed expressions. In fact, they were salesmen and technicians, not IT trend experts or strategic planners, so it was understandable.
The journalist who had asked the question looked somewhat disappointed, seeking a more specific response.
Cha Ji-hoo, who had been diligently interpreting, felt uneasy about the atmosphere.
He wanted to instill in the global media the impression that Samsung Electronics, the company he worked for, was leading IT trends and creatively opening up the future.
After exchanging brief eye contact with the two people on stage, he smiled and asked the questioner.
“May I share my opinion on what you’ve asked? I’m an employee of Samsung Electronics’ headquarters marketing team.”
“Yes, of course!”
“Thank you for your consideration.”
After politely asking for permission, Cha Ji-hoo immediately poured out his views. Of course, his remarks would clearly be taken as representing Samsung Electronics’ position.
“First of all, ‘Appple’ is the pioneer that innovated the concept of the smartphone. Although Samsung Electronics introduced the ‘Galaxy M’ somewhat later in comparison, our company, which possesses an amazing history and technology in mobile communication device manufacturing, is confident that we can offer evolved choices to customers around the world with the ‘Galaxy M,’ which adopts an open OS based on our powerful cutting-edge hardware technology.”
Like a true marketer, he explained the key points in a way that was easy to grasp. Before long, the audience was focused on him.
“The smartphone market will expand rapidly in the future. It will develop at an astonishing pace in all aspects, both hardware and software. In that process, Appple with its closed ecosystem and Samsung Electronics with its open ecosystem will form two major pillars in their respective markets.”
Following his predictions for the future smartphone market, he smoothly laid out his outlook on upcoming trends as well.
“Although smartphones are currently perceived as small wireless phones that can access the internet and send messages, the user experience will undergo changes as significant as device innovation in the future. Mobile banking will become commonplace, and payments will be possible with smartphones. Camera performance will improve dramatically, threatening the existence of digital cameras, and users will share and exchange photos taken with their phone cameras. The SNS and Neotube markets will experience explosive growth and become a part of our daily lives. Foldable phones and rollable phones, currently considered impossible, will also emerge. Furthermore, artificial intelligence will be integrated to the point where life without a smartphone will be unimaginable.”
Since he had experienced it all in his past life, there was no way he would stumble.
Cha Ji-hoo, who had been rattling off words without pause, suddenly thought, ‘Oops.’
‘Am I overdoing it a bit?’
He decided to wrap it up at an appropriate point. After all, the panelists for this seminar were the two people beside him. He felt he had done more than enough as a relief pitcher.
“We invite you to the future that Samsung Electronics will open up with the ‘Galaxy Series.’ We ask for your generous support and interest.”
Immediately afterward, applause broke out in the hall. The attendees were praising Cha Ji-hoo’s passion, eloquence, and imagination as he delivered his spirited remarks.
Among them were Vice Chairman Lee Jin-yong and executives from other group companies. By then, Samsung Electronics President Koo Hyun-mo and Vice President Lee Nam-hoon had also arrived at the back.
“That presenter—his name was Assistant Manager Cha Ji-hoo, right?”
“Yes, yes, Vice Chairman.”
“Impressive. He shows no hesitation with technical terms and speaks advanced English fluently. And he seems to know smartphone trends better than I do. Will that kind of world really come to be? What do you think, Mr. President? About his opinion?”
At his question, President Koo Hyun-mo replied with a gentle smile.
“To be honest, I’m very surprised. It seems more specific and creative than what we imagine. As he said, it seems he’s even better than me, haha.”
“On a global stage like this, every word from a company member determines the impression and standing of the corporation. Today, it seems that Assistant Manager Cha has definitely elevated Samsung Group’s image.”
“Yes, you’re right, Vice Chairman.”
“He’s in the Marketing Team of the Home Appliance Division. We should keep an eye on him going forward.”
“Of course, I will, Vice Chairman!”
More questions from attendees followed, and in the meantime, Vice Chairman Lee Jin-yong quietly left with his secretaries due to other commitments.
About 30 minutes later, the seminar ended. The U.S. branch manager and development team leader approached Cha Ji-hoo, offering handshakes and expressing their gratitude.
“The smooth progress was excellent. Not just your skill, but your charm in drawing people in is remarkable! Haha.”
“Thank you for handling that awkward moment so brilliantly earlier.”
“You both worked hard.”
No sooner had he stepped down from the stage than Team Leader Jo Ki-ho of the Global Marketing Team rushed over to Cha Ji-hoo and greeted him as if hugging him.
“Assistant Manager Cha, what on earth is this? You beautiful man!”
“Pardon?”
“Thanks to you, the seminar response was excellent, and even the Vice Chairman was impressed before he left!”
“The… Vice Chairman was here?”
“Yeah. He watched your presentation and your responses the whole time. He asked for your name and department, and he specifically pointed you out for praise! Haha.”
Cha Ji-hoo was dumbfounded.
He had heard that Vice Chairman Lee Jin-yong might appear at the exhibition, but he never imagined he would have watched nearly all of the seminar he himself had conducted.
“Your English seems to have improved even more than before. Your French too.”
While living as a ‘wild goose father,’ he never let go of his English and French studies, and that was proving to be a huge help. At the time, even amidst his busy schedule, he had consistently put effort into learning things that gave him a sense of presence—languages, general knowledge, wine, coffee, social dance, and so on—and he was now reaping the benefits.
“Besides, where does that imagination and insight come from when you’re not even in a smartphone-related division? If even the President is tongue-tied, that says it all. Haha.”
Well, that was because he had lived through the future. It was only natural. But he couldn’t say that outright.
“I just have a lot of interest in smartphones. And I pay close attention to trends.”
“As expected of Assistant Manager Cha! Thanks to you today, this seminar made the best possible impression on the Vice Chairman. Thank you. You worked hard. Get some rest. No, actually, go straight back to the accommodation today. I’ll take care of the rest from here, haha.”
Cha Ji-hoo gathered his materials and laptop and walked out of the seminar hall.
He hadn’t been that nervous, but he still felt a bit drained.
Just then, he sensed someone approaching him from another door.
Absentmindedly, he turned his gaze in that direction.
The person closing the distance was a beautiful blonde Caucasian woman.
“…..?”
“Oppa!”
“…Huh?”
Cha Ji-hoo’s eyes widened. He recognized her.
“Claire!”
She was the American student he had met in Japan. Ah, to be precise, ‘presumed to be American.’
“How did you…?”
Not Korea, not the U.S., but in this third country, Spain—he never could have dreamed of encountering her here, so his surprise was only natural.
The same was true for Claire. However, she had already entered midway through the seminar and had been watching Cha Ji-hoo. The moment she recognized him, she had been so excited she nearly screamed out loud right there.
‘How can I meet him again here? This has to be rarer than winning the lottery.’
How wondrous and amazing it was.
Throughout the seminar, she barely suppressed the urge to run to Cha Ji-hoo immediately, filled with deep delight.
“Oppa, you’re a Samsung Electronics employee?”
Claire asked again. Everything was in English except for the word ‘Oppa.’
“Yes! I came to support the exhibition. Did you happen to watch the seminar?”
“Yes, I did. I saw all of Oppa’s performance. It was so cool and amazing!”
“But how do you know the word ‘Oppa’?”
“How would I know? It’s the first word you learn when watching K-dramas. And you are Oppa, aren’t you? You’re not a teenager, are you?”
“Huh? Haha, well, that’s true.”
“Then I can keep calling you Oppa, right?”
“Yes, of course. No problem!”
“Hoho, great!”
Though dressed like a lady, Claire, laughing shyly behind her hand, was once again a college student. Cha Ji-hoo had felt it in Japan too, but she was somehow different from typical Western women. It wasn’t easy to pinpoint exactly what it was, though.
“I was actually about to send you another email.”
“You read my reply, right?”
“Of course. As soon as the notification came.”
“I never imagined meeting you like this here.”
“I know, right. I can’t tell you how amazing and happy this is.”
“Me too.”
“By the way, there’s still a long time until it ends, right? Since the exhibition has some time left before it finishes…”
“No, actually. Our team leader told me to go back and rest early today, so I’m free from now on.”
“Really?”
“Want to grab some coffee? Or dinner, if you’d like.”
“Yes, I would have been so disappointed if you hadn’t made that offer, hoho.”
Although Team Leader Jang had given him the rest of the day off, Cha Ji-hoo hadn’t originally planned to leave work right away.
But the situation had changed.
He didn’t want to just let Claire go after such a dramatic meeting. It was clear she wanted to spend time with him too.
The two left the exhibition hall together.
Unlike when he had seen her in Japan, Claire, dressed in semi-formal character casual attire, exuded a peculiar sense of maturity and beauty.
Cha Ji-hoo and she naturally had coffee and then had dinner together. It was a luxury made possible thanks to Team Leader Jang’s consideration.
“Claire, are you originally very interested in IT?”
“Yes. Among young people these days, who isn’t? The innovative devices that will change our lives in the future are so fascinating and amazing. I’m curious about them.”
“That’s true.”
“What Oppa said in the seminar earlier about the trends and future lifestyle changes that smartphones will bring, I found it very impressive. Where does that imagination and foresight come from?”
“For me, well, since it’s closely related to my work, I think about it a lot and study, so that’s how it becomes.”
“It was so helpful and I learned a lot. Oh, I’m a business major. New York University.”
“Oh, NYU!”
“You know it?”
“In college, if I were to study abroad for graduate school, I was considering NYU and Yale. My undergraduate major was Political Science and Diplomacy, but I wanted to study business more.”
“Oh my, then you could have been my senior?”
“Indeed, haha.”
After dinner, the two moved to a quiet nearby bar. Cha Ji-hoo sent a text to the senior colleague sharing his room, saying he’d be a bit late.
“By the way, Claire, did you cross the Atlantic just to see this exhibition?”
“Of course!”
“Wow, that’s quite a passion!”
“Hoho, just kidding. Actually, I was stopping by on my way home.”
“…Home? I thought your home was in the U.S.?”
“Yes. I’m an exchange student.”
“Then, here in Spain?”
“No. Mohena.”
“Pardon? Mo…hena?”
“You don’t know it, do you? It’s a small country.”
“Of course I do!”
Mohena.
In his past life and now, it was a country he had always dreamed of visiting at least once.
Some people say, ‘I want to go to the Maldives and have a mojito,’ but Cha Ji-hoo wanted to just do anything in Mohena. The Mediterranean view from its hillside setting, the beautiful, quaint, antique, and serene scenery, and the relaxed, safe environment were close to the ideal world he dreamed of.
And now, he had met a woman from that very country.
That was why this situation felt even more mysterious and destined.
