After finishing the idea meeting with Cheon Min-jeong, I returned to the office.
The clock was already pointing to 1 a.m., and aside from a few extremely close districts, the
overall picture was starting to take shape.
"Vice President! The National Economic Party is projected to win in over 25 districts. That's at least five more than what the exit polls suggested. And we have seven districts that are still too close to call."
"If we're really lucky, we might end up with as many as 32 members of the National Assembly."
I watched the vote-counting broadcast with the planning chief.
Korean election coverage was more detailed and intense than that of any other country in the
world.
They provided clear and precise updates for each district, showing which party was leading in a way that even casual voters could easily understand.
"The National Economic Party is pulling strong numbers in the capital region and the BusanGyeongnam area."
"That makes sense for Busan-Gyeongnam since it's Representative Choi Jae-seok's district, so the spillover effect is strong. But it's impressive to see this kind of response from the capital region too."
"Experts are saying the events we held with U.S. tech CEOs seem to have paid off in the capital. Also, voters frustrated with the illegal campaign funds and the impeachment scandals didn't want to support the major parties and instead turned to the National Economic Party."
It was the outcome I had hoped for.
Target the regions not dominated by major parties.
That didn't mean we had completely given up on the major party strongholds either.
We had a slow infiltration strategy—gradually taking bites. The more the big parties messed up, the faster our timeline would move forward.
"If things go well, we might secure 30 seats. That's the minimum we need for our status as a
negotiation bloc to carry real weight."
"If the National Economic Party secures just 30 seats, then no major party will be able to secure an absolute majority. If that happens, our party's value will skyrocket."
The National Economic Party would instantly rise to the position of the third party.
This was a golden opportunity to shake up the two-party monopoly of Korean politics.
"I just hope we can push a little further."
On the broadcast, Representative Choi Jae-seok was shown praying.
Normally, election coverage focused entirely on the major party headquarters, but as the National Economic Party became the eye of the storm, the broadcasters seemed to have hurriedly dispatched personnel to cover us too.
Three hours passed like that.
And finally, most of the electoral map was becoming clear.
And the result was even better than we had predicted.
"Vice President! We secured a seat in Songpa as well! Including the districts where we're projected to win and the proportional representatives, we've secured more than 35 seats!"
"That's an even better result than we expected."
I clenched my fist tightly.
The event we had organized with U.S. tech CEOs during the invisible campaign period had
performed far better than anticipated.
It was the result of Representative Choi Jae-seok and other National Economic Party politicians consistently pushing the message of economic development—and that message had spread nationwide.
"We've secured at least one seat in every region—capital, Busan-Gyeongnam, everywhere."
"We can now call ourselves a national party, not a regional one."
Regional parties had limits to how loud their voice could be.
But with seats spread across the country, our influence could grow significantly.
The National Economic Party had secured seats in the capital region, Gyeongsang, Jeolla,
Chungcheong, and even Gangwon.
With at least one seat in every region, we had successfully taken our first step as a truly national party.
***
That evening.
I woke up around the afternoon to find a message from Captain Kang.
It was a request for a secret meeting with Representative Choi Jae-seok, and I immediately
agreed.
Captain Kang quickly arranged a location completely off the radar, and it was there that I met with Representative Choi.
"It's a pleasure to meet you. I'm Kim Min-jae."
"Haha, you look just like Chairman Kim Tae-jung. Not just your appearance, but even the aura you give off—it's uncanny."
Choi greeted me with a warm smile and reached out for a handshake.
His hair was a mess, probably from not having slept while watching the vote count all night.
"I hope the journey wasn't too rough. We had to find somewhere quiet to avoid media attention, so it couldn't be helped."
"It reminded me once again of Taewoo Group's reach. There were people stationed all over the place. It felt like the whole mountain was under tight control."
That was well within Captain Kang's capabilities.
He clearly understood the significance of this meeting and had gone above and beyond in his
preparations.
"Ah, I almost forgot—congratulations are in order. I heard you've officially become the leader of the third-largest party."
"Thank you. It's all thanks to your support, Vice President Kim. I've received more congratulatory calls today than in my entire life combined."
"I assume the major parties have already started reaching out."
"I wouldn't say they're courting me just yet, but I've received a few calls wishing me well and saying they hope we can work together."
Of course the major parties knew what was at stake.
Whichever side won over the National Economic Party would have the upper hand in the
National Assembly.
They were likely tripping over themselves to gain favor with Representative Choi.
"You seem to be enjoying the moment."
"I'm happy, but I haven't lost my sense of direction. I have no intention of being swayed by the major parties. I'm going to stay the course and keep focusing on developing the Korean
economy."
"It won't be easy. The major parties will try to tempt or even threaten you. Some of your own
members may even defect."
"But like migratory birds, those who come and go too easily will eventually lose their nests. The National Economic Party will lose its reason for existing the moment we lose our direction. We don't have the solid regional bases other parties rely on, so we must stick to our course."
That was exactly what I wanted to hear.
Power changes people.
Now that Choi was the head of a negotiation bloc receiving attention from the major parties, it would have been easy for his ambition to take over.
Fortunately, it seemed he hadn't changed much—at least not yet.
"While we can't offer massive political donations like some corporations do for the major parties, I'll continue to support you on the policy front. In particular, we'll give you full backing for attracting factories and facilities. That said, I won't be asking for any favors in bids or contracts, so don't worry about that."
"I still don't understand it. A company that doesn't seek profit—how is that possible?"
"As long as we're not interfered with, I have full confidence that we can dominate not only the domestic market, but the global one. That's why it's a viable offer."
Choi Jae-seok and I shared the same vision.
A politician who doesn't take bribes.
A business leader who doesn't give them.
While factory development could be considered a form of "soft bribe," Choi didn't reject it, since there was no personal gain involved.
"If Taewoo Group continues to work in a way that benefits the national economy, I will support it unconditionally."
"There may come a time when I have no choice but to do something illegal. If that time comes, I'll explain the reason to you personally and make sure you understand."
"And if I don't understand—what will you do then?"
"Then I would either abandon that project or look for another way."
"If that's how you'll handle it, then I will stake my life to ensure the major parties can't interfere with Taewoo Group!"
Representative Choi Jae-seok radiated the aura of a great general.
With him, Taewoo Group had gained a political shield within the National Assembly.
Unless the major parties joined forces to launch a coordinated attack, it would be an impenetrable barrier—and knowing the fractured state of Korean politics, there was no chance the major parties would ever unite.
The 17th General Election in South Korea had come to an end.
But there was another election we had to worry about.
"How many days are left until the Indian general election?"
"About 20 days."
"What's the current situation?"
"Thanks to Manmohan Singh's popularity, the Indian National Congress is in a favorable
position."
We had spent even more money on the Indian election than we had on Korea's.
That was partly because money politics still dominated in India, and also because in order to
attract an IIT (Indian Institute of Technology) to Korea, it was essential for the Indian National
Congress to win.
Of course, in the previous timeline, the Indian National Congress had also won.
Even without my intervention, their chances of victory were high—but to get credit for the win, I had to pour money into it.
"Since Manmohan Singh enjoys national support, it's highly likely he'll be nominated as the next Prime Minister of India."
"Current predictions give him over a 70% chance of becoming the next PM."
"As soon as he's appointed Prime Minister, begin full-scale efforts to bring an IIT to Korea."
"It shouldn't be too difficult. Taewoo Group has been airing a lot of Korean dramas in India, and they're quite popular. Thanks to Heo Jun , there's also growing interest in Queen Heo Hwangok."
Just because we had popular dramas didn't mean we'd automatically win the IIT bid.
But if Manmohan Singh, with his strong political capital as a new PM, personally pushed to
establish an IIT in Korea, public opposition would likely be minimal.
"Prepare in advance by purchasing land for the campus, assuming we succeed in bringing the IIT to Korea."
"University establishment is a very sensitive issue, so we'll definitely need support from the
National Economic Party. There's a chance the major parties might try to block it."
Bringing an IIT to Korea had many upsides, but the downsides couldn't be ignored.
We would need to accept over 60% Indian students, who came from an entirely different culture, and they would have to live in or near the school.
Cultural differences could easily lead to conflict, and local communities might reject Indian
students—which meant the political world was sure to handle this matter very delicately.
That's why I had hoped so strongly for the National Economic Party's success.
"Spread awareness of the benefits of having an IIT in Korea through Representative Choi Jaeseok. If you emphasize the recruitment of top-tier professors and students and frame it as
essential to Korea's rise as an IT powerhouse, you can reduce public opposition."
"We'll work on this together with the National Economic Party."
I wanted to get away from the complex election talk.
After wrapping up the conversation about the Indian elections with the Planning Director, I
headed to Taewoo IT.
I thought I'd feel better if I could see for myself how much progress Cheon Min-jeong had made on the translation program.
"Vice Chairman! I was just about to contact you. After applying various algorithms to the
translation program, its performance has improved significantly."
"Can I see for myself how much it's improved?"
"Oh! And thanks to some ideas from President Lisa, we were able to further improve the
performance."
It seemed she had been having idea meetings with President Lisa.
Lisa had once wanted to bring Cheon Min-jeong to work under her, but when I refused, she
started using these "idea meetings" as an excuse to spend time with her.
"The translation speed has definitely improved."
"Over the past few days, I trained the program on over 20,000 academic papers, and also on
movies, dramas, novels, and even comics. That really helped boost the performance."
The translation program was now so accurate and fluid that there was hardly any need for a
separate interpreter.
It even handled contextual paraphrasing, and if someone used an English proverb, it could find a similar Korean proverb and apply it in translation.
"This feels ready for release right now."
"It's not quite there yet. I want to add support for a few more languages—Chinese, Hindi, Spanish, Arabic, and Japanese—before launching it."
"Wouldn't adding all those languages take a lot of time?"
"AI can train 24/7, so it won't take long. Plus, we can train on multiple languages at once."
Cheon Min-jeong replied with such a pure, innocent expression.
Looking at her, I was reminded of Jeffrey, the CEO of Amazon.
The man who once said it was cheaper to call an ambulance than to turn on the air conditioning.
I couldn't help but think that if Cheon Min-jeong ever became CEO, she might end up being like that too.
"Try enabling voice recognition as well. That will significantly increase the program's usefulness."
"President Lisa actually said the same thing. And also..."
"Is something wrong?"
"On almost every day I don't have meetings with you, I'm having meetings with President Lisa. Thanks to that, my English is slowly improving."
The best way to learn a language was to date a native speaker.
When you spend time with someone 24/7, you naturally pick up the language.
That's why language academies paid good money to hire native-speaking instructors—and Cheon Min-jeong was practically spending hours every day talking with one, in the form of President Lisa.
"I swear I didn't force her or ask her to do this."
"You're not secretly using President Lisa to make me study English against my will, are you?"
"Of course not. And besides, President Lisa isn't the kind of person who'd do something just
because I asked. She's doing this purely because she's personally interested in you, Ms. Cheon Min-jeong."
The meeting of two geniuses was nothing but good news for me.
Because they would be spilling out money-making ideas every single day.