Chapter 157: <The main game begins>

“The government is proud to announce XFeed, our new fourth mobile carrier. We expect that the public will soon enjoy lowered cellphone bills. XFeed’s CEO is the infamous Kang Woosung, who also owns Coconut and KND. He applied with an astonishing budget of 15 billion dollars for this project.”

Soon after, Woosung took over Daenam Constructions. Daenam used to be the third biggest construction companies in Korea, but due to the financial crisis, it was suffering from minimal profit. Woosung managed to purchase it for 3 billion dollars.

The media suggested that Woosung may have made a mistake, but he replied, “I have enough money to buy anything. The problem is that there aren’t many companies I want to buy.”

The next step was the frequency auction.

Woosung needed frequencies in the 1.8Ghzs.

It was called the golden frequency. It was the most used frequency for LTE in the world.

Jang Gwangchul asked Woosung, “I assume that you will continue bidding until you win.”

Woosung nodded. “I’m thinking 5 billion dollars as my limit.”

Jang Gwangchul hid his shock. In the past, the highest bid was by TK who won with 990 million dollars. Woosung would not let TK win this time.

Jang Gwangchul said to Woosung, “Hey, you know what auctions are like.”

“The richest wins.”

“But we just used 3 billion dollars to take over Daenam. We will have to spend a lot more on Pangyo and Yongsan. We also spent 15 billion dollars on the mobile carrier business.”

“If we get desperate, we can sell more of KND shares. You know how much money we can generate with that.”

If Woosung sold just 10% of his shares, he could generate 8 billion dollars.

Jang Gwangchul murmured, “I know.”

KND and Coconut.

Jang Gwangchul’s shares of both companies exceeded 10 billion dollars. It was an amount he would have never made had he not met Woosung.

Woosung continued, “I plan to write down 500 million dollars as my first bid to show TK that we mean business. Oh, and by the way, there is one scenario where it might be okay for us not to win.”

“W…what?”

“Winner’s curse. If TK wins but suffers from the winner’s curse because they spend too much money, it will be even better for XFeed.”

“What are you planning this time?”

“This auction should be fun. The entire country will be watching.” Woosung murmured mysteriously, which made Jang Gwangchul shiver.

***

TK Telecom headquarter, inside Jun Taewon’s office.

“XFeed wrote down 500 million dollars for the first round.”

Jun Taewon gritted his teeth at his assistant’s report. “So he is confident?”

“His total budget is 15 billion dollars, so he isn’t worried about money. He also got the equipment for cheap from KND.”

“So he has plenty of money.”

Jun Taewon was worried. After thinking for a few seconds, he continued, “The most we can spend is 1.5 billion dollars. However, if we don’t get 1.8Ghz, it will be a problem.”

“That’s correct.”

Jun Taewon sighed deeply. He couldn’t come up with a solution.

“Just put down 600 million dollars and we’ll see what happens.”

His assistant nodded and made a quick call. Meanwhile, Jun Taewon noticed the commercial on TV.

“XFeed is the only option if you want 4G.”

“The fastest internet 4G in Korea.”

“Blue S3 4G available. Choose XFeed!”

The auction was just beginning, yet XFeed was airing commercials as if it already won. Jun Taewon couldn’t stand it.

2 days later.

Jun Taewon’s assistant ran into his office. He was sweating as he announced the news.

“800 million dollars. He wrote down 800 million dollars.”

Jun Taewon bit his lips.

‘He’s crazy. We are only in the third round.’

The auction was still at a beginning stage, yet Kang Woosung was raising the bid too quickly. It was already getting close to Jun Taewon’ limit.

“How are the others doing?”

“It looks like KG gave up on the golden frequency. Their budget was probably under 1 billion dollars.”

“We can go up till 1.5.”

Jun Taewon decided.

“Write down 1 billion dollars. Let’s see how high he can go.”

“S…sir.”

“And raise more funds. We need to win this.”

“Y…yes, sir.”

The next day.

“Will the winner suffer from the curse?”

“The bid is now up to 1 billion dollars and it has only been 4 days. Who will win the golden frequency?”

It was the talk of the country. Jun Taewon paced around nervously.

He was sweating despite the cold weather. He kicked the desk in anger and frustration.

Finally, his assistant ran into the office.

“Kang Woosung made a bid of…1.5 billion dollars.”

Jun Taewon closed his eyes. 1.5 was his highest limit.

“Bastard…”

“S…should we write down 1.6 billion dollars?”

The assistant’s voice was trembling. They couldn’t afford this amount, but Jun Taewon nodded.

“Do it.”

“But if they give up afterward…”

“It’s fine. We can afford it. If we get a loan, we can even go up to 2 billion dollars.”

***

Jang Gwangchul swallowed.

“2 billion…”

“We’re almost there.”

“The curse will happen.”

Woosung rubbed his chin. The bid was now up to 2 billion dollars.

In his previous life. TK won the 1.8GHz for a little less than 1 billion dollars. Woosung replied, “This frequency can really be advantageous in this industry. We may have successful companies like Coconut and Blue S, but we are still a newbie in the mobile carrier business. TK owns half the market so far, which means we need this frequency to steal those customers.”

“With the golden frequency, we will gain a lot of attention and free publicity.”

“That’s right. We will gain new users quickly.”

Jang Gwangchul nodded in agreement and replied, “We haven’t even started the service, but we already have over 10,000 new XFeed users. I think people are expecting us to win.”

They needed this frequency.

***

2 billion dollars was too much. Jun Taewon paced around nervously.

“2 billion…2 billion…that crazy bastard…2 billion dollars!”

“I think he may be thinking to go even to 3 billion dollars.”

Jun Taewon gaped. “For a frequency?”

“It will attract a lot of customers. They know this.”

Jun Taewon closed his eyes. He kept pacing around. What should he do? Should he bid more…or stop?

Suddenly, the assistant’s cellphone rang. It was from Daeyang.

“Hello. This is Chun Gisu from Daeyang.”

“…yes?”

“I heard that you are currently having some difficulties with the frequency auction. I was wondering if Daeyang could help.”