Chapter 26: The Midas Touch

I carefully observed the expressions of the five people including Oh Se-hyun.

Oh Se-hyun wore a bewildered look.

My uncle’s out, he’s clueless about the situation in the US. He’s probably spent too long in Korea.

The reactions of the three men varied. One shook his head, another started thinking hard, and the last looked surprised.

The most immediate reaction came from the woman.

“How… how do you know….”

She stammered as she looked at me then turned her gaze to Oh Se-hyun. She realized belatedly that she had spoken to a child who couldn’t even understand English.

Oh Se-hyun, who already knew what questions they were asking, hurriedly spoke.

“Do-jun, how did you know about Dell Computer?”

How did I know? I knew because I’d used it before.

Of course, the words that came out of my mouth were different from my thoughts.

“Didn’t I tell you? The person who made two thousand dollars selling stamps at the age of 12 and made a fortune in high school by selling newspaper subscriptions. That person is Michael Dell.”

“Ah…!”

Oh Se-hyun snapped his fingers as if he remembered the conversation we had.

Born in 1965, Michael Dell is a person who clearly shows that making money is also an innate talent.

A friend’s father was a stamp collector and he discovered that stamp trading was done through auctions and that auction brokers’ fees were high.

From then on, Dell went around looking for stamp collectors, made a list of stamps they wanted to trade and even placed an advertisement in a magazine with the money he earned from serving at a Chinese restaurant.

He became a stamp dealer by removing the fluff from auction fees and directly connecting sellers and buyers. He was only 12 years old.

In high school, he delivered newspapers, but when he learned that he would receive an incentive for each subscriber, he went out to find subscribers.

Generally, once you subscribe to a newspaper, you don’t change the newspaper company and keep reading it. However, when you move, you apply for a new newspaper subscription.

Dell focused on this phenomenon.

He went around the courts in Houston, Texas, obtained a list of recently married people, and focused on them.

That year, Dell received a whopping eighteen thousand dollars in incentives.

It was more than a high school teacher’s annual salary and Dell used this money to buy a BMW.

Simplification of the distribution process, intensive marketing.

This was consistent with Dell Computer’s future sales methods.

Of course, this fact is not known now. It will be known after Michael Dell becomes a wealthy man.

“So you’re saying you’re going to pour a fortune based on just the story of that person’s childhood?”

“He’s someone who already made money when he was my age. He didn’t even have a rich grandfather like me. Wouldn’t a person like that naturally make a lot of money?”

Oh Se-hyun stared at me for a moment and then spoke to his employees.

“Bring me all the information on Dell Computer, Michael Dell. Right now.”

They’re all professionals.

As soon as the order from the boss, Oh Se-hyun, came down, they instantly sat in front of the IBM PC AT and inserted a 2-megabyte floppy disk.

Once they decide, they follow. They don’t complain or doubt, they just do their best.

I felt a sense of satisfaction once again.

My life ended as a mere salaryman.

Now, there are four soldiers who receive a salary from me. Even though their race and skin color are different.

They even forgot my existence and focused only on finding data.

I watched them with satisfaction for a while, but sitting still was also unbearable.

I went into the break room on one side of the office and brewed some coffee beans. The coffee aroma spread throughout the office.

I carried five cups of coffee on a tray and placed them on each of their desks.

“Oh, Thanks.”

They found my actions cute and gently stroked my head as they spoke.

They still don’t recognize that I’m the majority shareholder and the owner of this company. Well, they’ll know soon enough in a few years.

* * *

When I returned to the hotel, my mother and older brother were nowhere to be seen. They must have gone downtown since a guide was attached.

I felt a little tired and was about to lie down on the bed when Oh Se-hyun threw a pile of paperwork on the bed first.

Even though we had enough discussions in the office, he’s reviewing it one more time until the last minute.

I’m ashamed. I still have a long way to go.

“Uncle, are you still not sure? The people working earlier seemed to be positive….”

“How would you know? Do you understand English?”

Oops.

“Oh, no. Just their expressions… they were all smiling….”

“Hmm…. I’ve never been sure of anything in my life. I’m always just doubting.”

He says without taking his eyes off the paperwork.

Always doubting. That was unexpected.

“Whether it’s a business, a project, or an investment, there’s no such thing as one hundred percent certainty. Don’t trust anyone who says that. They’re irresponsible. The work is to minimize doubt and anxiety.”

This guy, he’s definitely saying this for me to hear…. Did he change his mind? Does he mean he won’t treat me like a child anymore?

Anyway, dealing with the top-tier people, I realized something.

I hadn’t learned anything.

All I know is what I learned through experience and effort.

The higher-level content is shared only within their own world and doesn’t leak out.

I just ran forward to do what they told me to do well. Not knowing the real reason for the work they gave me, the purpose, meant I hadn’t learned anything.

“Think of a scale. Put the good and bad outcomes on the scale and measure the difference. I only start when the good outcome is at least nine times heavier than the bad outcome. Set your own standards. How many times heavier?”

That means a 90% chance of success. That’s quite high.

It’s a natural attitude for an asset manager who invests with clients’ money, not his own.

How should I set my own standards?

While I was lost in these thoughts, Oh Se-hyun started organizing the paperwork.

“Do-jun, you stay here with your mother.”

“Where are you going?”

“I think I need to go to Texas.”

“To meet him in person?”

“I have to. The performance is good, but the scale is small. Even if we want to throw a money bomb, it will be difficult for this company to handle it.”

He wanted to throw all fifteen million dollars, but it’s impossible.

Last year, Dell Computer already received thirty million dollars in investment. Of course, I don’t remember these details.

It’s a story I heard when people were discussing data at the company.

Could it be that I’m a step late?

Should I change direction to Microsoft stock, which only rises about 50 times?

When this thought crossed my mind, I slapped myself on the head.

I’m still so weak!

I was so ashamed of my weakness that I shuddered, seeking another path as soon as the possibility receded without even trying.

“I’ll go too.”

“What?”

“He’s someone I like…. I want to meet him in person.”

“Hmm…. Let’s do that. Even when buying a thousand won snack, you look at it yourself. I’m curious about your thoughts after seeing it yourself.”

Oh Se-hyun booked a ticket to Texas and a hotel in one go, then contacted the company to prepare for a meeting with Dell Computer.

“Uncle, did you make an appointment to meet? Already?”

It wasn’t confirmed in the call. But Oh Se-hyun was already packing.

“We can’t give up just because they refuse. If they won’t meet us, we’ll storm into the company. We have nothing to lose, right?”

In times like these, he’s a typical Korean bulldozer.

Ultimately, you have to change according to the time, place, and situation.

Humans can have many different appearances, the end of which is unknown.

***

Ranked number one on Forbes’ list of the world’s most valuable sports teams and home to the symbol of American football, the Dallas Cowboys.

A land 25% larger than the territory of France.

It’s Texas.

We arrived at Austin-Bergstrom International Airport in Austin, Texas, and looked for the rental car office.

Oh Se-hyun called the company from the rental car office to confirm the meeting appointment, then got in the car without a word.

I thought we were going to Dell Computer headquarters or the hotel, but the car headed in the wrong direction.

“Uncle, where are we going now?”

“Mt. Bonnell.”

“What?”

“From the top, Covert Park, you can see all of Austin at a glance. Looking down at Lake Austin, the view is breathtaking. You can’t miss it. Especially today, the weather is nice, so we’re lucky.”

The weather in Texas is notoriously fickle. Some days the hot sun shines all day, and a few days later it rains again, and even on the same day, it rains and clears up several times.

“Have you been there before?”

“No. Just now at the airport. It was in the tourist guidebook.”

He’s either a meticulous person who actively utilizes spare time, or his expression is unreadable because the meeting appointment fell through and he’s trying to calm down.

I also leaned back in the seat, sat comfortably, and began to enjoy the scenery of Austin.

I wasn’t anxious about whether we would meet or not.

I somehow had faith in Oh Se-hyun. We would definitely meet.

If the meeting falls through, I will stay here in Texas and demand that Oh Se-hyun and the Miracle Investment employees make the meeting happen.

Now I’m not a servant, but a master. I need to switch from a servant’s mindset to a master’s mindset.

But I also knew what I had to do. To become a confident master, I also need to be physically strong.

“Huff, huff……. U-Uncle, how many steps are there?”

“I……. I don’t know. It’s my first time too……. Huff, huff.”

Starting from the parking lot in the middle of the mountain, we climbed the steep limestone stairs, not knowing where they ended, and we were both exhausted.

It wasn’t bad because we could let go of our anxiety for a while.

* * *

Exhausted, the two of us unpacked at the Hyatt Regency, lay down on the bed, and waited for the phone call.

“Do-jun.”

“Yes?”

“The possibility of investing in Dell Computer is low.”

“Because they already received thirty million dollars in investment?”

Investment is for the cold and hungry. Investing in someone who is warm and full is no different from forcing them to eat another bowl of soup.

“You understand well. If it were last year, that guy Dell would have been anxiously waiting for us. This is timing. Capturing the right moment is everything in investing. The moment to enter, the moment to exit.”

“We’re late now.”

“We have to assume so.”

Oh Se-hyun, lying with his arms pillowed under his head, had a very stern expression.

Just then the phone rang.

Oh Se-hyun jumped up and grabbed the receiver.

Judging by him saying, “Yes, U-hum, Good, All Right,” the appointment must be set.

“What?”

Oh Se-hyun suddenly widened his eyes and reconfirmed.

What? Did it fall through?

Oh Se-hyun put down the receiver and shrugged.

“It’s done. He said he’d meet us.”

Without realizing it, I clapped my hands!

“But… haha.”

“What’s wrong?”

“He can’t make a separate time, so he said let’s talk while having lunch together tomorrow.”

“That’s great.”

“The thing is… we’re having hamburgers. He said to come to Wendy’s.”

Oh Se-hyun tilted his head at my dumbfounded look.

“Why? Don’t you like hamburgers?”

There are old souls like me who don’t like hamburgers. Moreover, since business meetings are always held in nice restaurants, I couldn’t erase my stunned expression.