Chapter 13
Chapter 13
Shin Yu-ri asked as I stared at him.
“Why do you look like that?”
“I just feel like I resemble someone in a girl group.”
At my words, Yuri laughed bashfully.
“Hey, sunbaenim, you like girl groups.”
“Well, it’s not like that…”
Until I joined the military, I knew about the group name, but I didn’t know how many members there were or what a hit song was.
However, by the time it came out, I was about to start figuring out the history of a girl group.
Not only me, but all Korean soldiers as well. Would you say that you can tell the year you enlisted in the military through a hit song from a girl group that was popular at the time? (This is true)
“Does that mean it’s pretty?”
“·················ogue.”
is that so?
We went into the cafe. A huge roaster was installed on one side, and coffee beans were provided by type.
Contrary to expectations that it would be expensive, the price was not much different from other cafes.
“What would you like to drink?”
“Ah, I will live, sir. What would you like to eat?”
He says he lives, so I don’t need to take out my wallet, right?
“Americano.”
“Is it cold or warm?”
“uh.”
Yuri ordered two glasses of the same thing.
We grabbed coffee and sat by the window on the second floor.
Even though I’m a junior, it’s kind of awkward for me and a woman to sit face to face. I didn’t before. It’s all because of the military.
I thought I had to say something to break the awkwardness, but fortunately, Yuri opened her mouth first.
“What did you come to Gangnam for?”
“I came over to my friend’s house to play.”
Yuri nodded her head at my words.
“like that.”
“So what are you doing?”
“I live in Cheongdam-dong.”
If you live in Gangnam, it is easy to think that everyone is living well, but even within that, there is a significant gap between districts.
Cheongdam-dong is one of the most prosperous areas in Gangnam.
Are you the daughter of a wealthy family?
Until I was in high school, I didn’t really have a concept of who’s house was good or bad. It was because they were allotted schools according to the distance anyway, so the children of similar living standards were gathered together.
However, things changed when she entered college.
Korea University is one of the most prestigious universities in the world. Most of the students are low-income or middle-class, but some are more.
Even if it is not a conglomerate that you can recognize just by hearing its name, there were children from upper-class families with assets of more than 10 billion won, or the son of the president of a small business.
Unlike other children who work part-time, get student loans, and worry about living expenses and tuition, they found their own room in the most expensive officetel near school and drove a foreign car that their parents bought.
Yuri hesitated if she had something to say to me.
“Why did you ask to see me?”
Yuri smiled awkwardly at my question.
“I want to apologize to you.”
“Apple?”
“It’s Seon-ah’s job.”
“Alas······.”
Yuri lowered her head slightly.
“I’m sorry. I didn’t know because I didn’t go to the actual class meeting.”
Even if you go out for a few drinks, it’s not even a genealogy of who you’ve dated with in class. Seeing you say this, are you an outsider?
I said with a smirk.
“OK.”
I didn’t know that, so there’s nothing to apologize for. Even if I knew it, it’s not worth apologizing either.
Yuri sighed in relief.
“Hehe, I’m glad. I was a little worried because you went like that yesterday.”
After listening to what she said, it seems that the drinking party was chaotic after me and Seon-ah had left. Yuri thinks she has become that way because of her for nothing. She came to see me because she was sorry.
“Are you going back to school next year?”
“I think it would be if nothing happened.”
“Then let’s take a second year class together.”
We drank coffee and chatted. I didn’t know him at the drinking party, but he seems to have a pretty good personality.
Towards the end of the conversation, Yuri cautiously spoke to me.
“Ah! I have something to ask you.”
“What request?”
“Ummm, that’s…”
When did you ask me to see you?
Standing, maybe…?
Apologizing was an excuse, did you call me to confess?
What am I supposed to answer?
Like it or not, I’ve never thought about this situation. Besides, I’m busy with investment right now.
If I confess, should I decline?
But she’s too pretty to refuse. But I’m still not ready for heart…
In that brief moment, all sorts of thoughts ran through my mind.
While waiting with a calm expression on her face, Yuri continued.
“I’m trying to change my cell phone, can’t I go with you? If a woman goes alone, I think she will be treated like a gangster.”
“Oh yeah?”
I don’t know what I was thinking on my own.
I should drink a little bit of kimchi soup.
“I don’t know much about cell phones either.”
By the way, Taek-gyu is an expert in this.
He spends very little on food and clothing, but spares no expense on electronic devices such as cell phones, TVs, and game consoles.
He is probably familiar with the model, specifications, and price of the latest mobile phone.
“It’s okay if you don’t know. Just going with them helps.”
I nodded.
“Okay.”
We left the cafe together.
Crossing the road without having to go far, there was a directly managed store of SSK Telecom. Cell phones were displayed on the first floor, and the service center was on the second floor.
As we entered, an employee dressed in red and wearing a name tag approached us.
“How can I help you?”
“I want to change my cell phone.”
At Yuri’s words, the employee’s expression brightened.
“Are there any models you are looking for?”
“Do you have a Seosung Electronics L6?”
“of course. She is the most popular model in recent times.”
Yuri sat down as instructed by the staff. A serious consultation began.
She moves numbers, changes devices, installs principal, publicly available subsidies, points redemption, card issuance benefits, and more.
She came and went in a way that was hard to understand.
Buying a cell phone is very complicated these days. She knows what it means to be a gangster, not a customer, if you don’t know.
Yuri, who thought it would be a good match, understood everything the staff was saying and asked meticulously about this and that.
“·················ogue.”
I know you so well, why did you ask me to come with you?
While Yuri was having a consultation, I looked around the store. In the best place, Suseong Electronics’ new L6 was on display.
The cell phone I used before enlisting in the military was an L3. But it’s coming to L6 all of a sudden. Time goes by so fast
For reference, the cell phone I’m using right now was the J2, a mid-range model of Seosung Electronics.
I grabbed the L6 and looked around. It’s definitely the latest phone, so it’s thin and the design is neat.
But at that moment.
Something appeared in front of me, like a hologram.
surely······?
What does this mean?
“Why is that, senpai? What is there?”
When I woke up, Yuri was looking at me with strange eyes. Suddenly, the hologram in front of her had disappeared.
I just wandered around
“Oh, nothing. It feels like mosquitoes are flying.”
Yuri asked as if it was nonsense.
“Is this weather?”
I smiled.
“You must have misunderstood.”
No, I actually saw it right.
Did you finally see one?
Yuri eventually bought the L6. After the SIM and data transfer were all over, we left the store.
“I bought the sky blue because there was no pink gold in stock, don’t you think this color is good too?”
Can’t you see it with the case on anyway?
Yuri looked at the new phone over and over to see if she liked it.
“I’m a slave to the contract again, so I’ll save it for two years.”
“It will be discontinued soon.”
Then Yuri made a surprised expression.
“Yes? why?”
“·················ogue.”
I kept thinking about it in case I forgot it, and the words came out without me knowing.
I smiled and frowned.
“It’s just a joke.”
* * *
After breaking up with Yuri, I immediately ran to Taek-gyu’s house.
As soon as I entered the house, I grabbed Taek-gyu, who was playing hard, and shouted.
“Hey L6!”
“What?”
“Seosung Electronics L6!”
Taek-gyu pulled something out of his pocket and showed it.
“Are you talking about this?”
It was the same cell phone Yuri bought. It was even pink gold.
“Did you have to buy pink?”
“If it’s a man, it’s pink.”(Read more @ wuxiax.com)
I was going to talk about what just happened, but Taek-gyu looked at my empty hand and asked.
“By the way, didn’t you buy a lunch box?”
“·················ogue.”
Do you think the lunch box is important in this situation?
I summarized my experiences at SSK Telecom and told them. Then Taek-gyu asked, surprised.
“When I touched the L6, a hologram came to mind? ‘L6 discontinued’?”
“Huh.”
“why?”
“I don’t know.”
Discontinued literally means the cessation of production and sales.
Taek-gyu explained to me about the smartphone market.
“Seosung Electronics is launching a variety of smartphones from high-end to low-end. Among them, the L series is the flagship smartphone of Suseong Electronics.”
It is no exaggeration to say that the current smartphone market is a battleground for global electronics companies.
Among them, it is not an exaggeration to say that NPL’s nPhone and Seosung Electronics’ L series are divided in the high-end smartphone market.
Although Chinese companies such as Obona and Bipo have made strides a few years ago, they have not yet emerged as prominent in the high-end phone market as they mainly focus on mid- to low-priced phones relying on Chinese domestic demand.
“Well, even in terms of nutrients, NPL is overwhelming in terms of sales and operating profit margins of high-end phones. So, this L6 was made by Seosung Electronics with the intention of grabbing the N-Phone. Some say that it surpasses the N-Phone 6 in terms of design and performance.”
Thanks to that evaluation, the L6 was selling like a wing to the extent that some colors were out of stock.
Worldwide sales of the L5, a model a generation ago, were around 50 million units. Even this is a surprising number, but this L6 had an estimated sales volume of over 70 million units.
Taek-gyu had a look on his face that he didn’t understand.
“It must be selling well all over the world now, so why is it being discontinued?”
“What could be the cause of being discontinued?”
Taek-gyu seemed to remember something at my question.
“Ah! Is it because of a patent dispute?”
“Patent dispute?”
“The number of patents for one smartphone is over 200,000. From setting the communication frequency to semiconductors, parts, functions, design, etc.”
Seosung Electronics is one of the top IT manufacturers in the world, not in Korea. As such, there were several patent disputes in each country.
In particular, the patent dispute with NPL in the early days of smartphones was famous as the lawsuit of the century.
“Hasn’t the patent problem been resolved to some extent?”
Even if you lose in a patent dispute, it is extremely rare that it goes to the end of the sale without paying compensation or paying the patent fee.
Moreover, patent disputes are so complex that it takes years to reach a verdict. Even if it is concluded to be discontinued, the model has already disappeared from the market.
Taehyung nodded his head.
“Well. In terms of patents, Seosung Electronics is the Gap, not the Eul.”
Unlike NPL, which opened the smartphone era by developing N-Phone, and other companies that entered the market after that, Seosung Electronics has been making mobile phones since the CDMA era.
For this reason, it possessed a huge amount of communication patents and technology patents, which is number one in the world. In fact, even when he was embroiled in a design patent dispute with NPL, he counterattacked with a communication patent as a weapon, and had some success.
Then what is it?
Why is it being discontinued?
