WeTried Translations
Translator/Editor: LilGuyBlastoise
Discord: https://dsc.gg/wetried
◈ The Economics of an Alchemist ◈
Chapter 27
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A few days later.
The Aegis Case, once known only to those active in online communities like DCOn and A-simpers, had become an item no smartphone user in South Korea could fail to recognize.
The epicenter was the global social network, Facewall.
[I got a new phone, but I think I bought the wrong case;;]
Clicking the post played a fifteen-second video. There was no professional studio lighting, flashy editing, or convincing ad copy.
Someone hurled an expensive A-phone onto an asphalt road.
Crack!
- It didn't break?
They threw the phone down a steep concrete staircase.
Crash! Bang! Bang!
- It didn't break?
Finally, a mid-sized SUV mercilessly ran over the A-phone lying on the ground.
Crunch!
- Holy shit. It didn't break?
That was the end of it. Yet that crude, unpolished video began spreading explosively across Facewall.
If influential blogger TechPark's livestream had opened the wallets of IT enthusiasts, this direct and provocative fifteen-second video perfectly captured the attention of the general public, even those with little interest in smartphones.
[Kim Minsu: Hey, Lee Jieun. Your A-phone screen got smashed yesterday, right? Look at this lol]
[Lee Jieun: Is this guy insane? Isn't it edited?]
[Park Seongho: This isn't fake. A must-have for A-phone 4 owners. I got drunk yesterday and rolled down the stairs with my phone. Only my head got cracked, my phone was fine. Chilling.]
[Lee Jieun: Stop drinking so much lol]
Through Likes and Shares, the video spread like wildfire. It was the triumph of perfect viral marketing.
The influence of social media exceeded all imagination.
Every night, the 5,000 units released on G-Mall disappeared like dust the instant the clock struck midnight.
The Aegis Case was selling like mad. In the midst of it all, Valence had completed its incorporation as Valence Co., Ltd.
“Move it, move it! Five minutes until the truck leaves!”
As booming voices rang out and part-timers sweated as they carried boxes back and forth, a quiet war was about to begin in the office.
“Everyone's busy, so please have a seat.”
The employees gathered in the office sat down as soon as Jaeha finished speaking. The first meeting since Valence became a corporation began.
“You've all been working hard to process the daily flood of orders. We've made it this far thanks to everyone, but there must be issues we've overlooked along the way. I'd like to discuss those today. Please speak freely about any inconveniences or areas that need improvement.”
No sooner had Jaeha finished than Jang Myeonghwan spoke up.
“President, the other platforms and social-commerce sites have been sending us nonstop offers. They're promising dramatically lower commissions and events just as generous as G-Mall's, if not better. My phone's been ringing off the hook with people begging us to give them some stock.”
“As you know, Director Jang, our current production capacity can't support expanding to other platforms. Still, it will make an excellent bargaining chip when we discuss a second exclusive contract with G-Mall.”
“Yes. This time, I'll squeeze benefits out of them that can't even compare to last time.”
After Jang Myeonghwan finished his report, Lee Minho raised his hand.
“President, even after we increased supply, Aegis Case reselling is still severe on used-goods sites.”
“How bad is it?”
“Unopened ones are selling for 40,000 won, and some go for as much as 50,000 won. Organized resellers are even using macros to sweep up the stock, then adding a markup and selling it on. I don't understand why G-Mall can't stop it...”
Jang Myeonghwan answered his question with a bitter smile.
“It isn't that they can't stop it. They simply don't feel the need to. From G-Mall's perspective, the transaction total is the same whether a reseller buys it or an ordinary customer does. They're probably delighted by the sellout frenzy getting so bad that the macros nearly crash their servers.”
Then Park Mijeong raised her hand.
“Resellers are nothing. At least they don't affect our sales. The bigger problem is counterfeits!”
Jaeha frowned at the word counterfeits.
“Other platforms besides G-Mall are flooded with people selling ordinary jelly cases under names like ‘Aegis-style case’ and ‘Shield jelly case.’”
She continued indignantly.
“People put those on their phones, copy the Facewall video, smash their phones, and then come curse us out! There are methods floating around on how to tell genuine products from fakes, but... honestly, they're hard to distinguish.”
The air in the meeting room grew heavy.
Jaeha lightly tapped the desk with his fingers as he thought.
Tap, tap.
Then he slowly spoke.
“So ultimately, there is only one root cause. These side effects are happening because our supply cannot keep up with exploding demand.”
Everyone in the meeting room nodded in agreement.
“We're looking into sites for a new factory. But we can't just sit on our hands until then, so we'll expand our equipment and containers as much as this site can handle. Naturally, we also plan to hire more people. Please hang in there a little longer until we can bring in more staff.”
After taking a sip of plum tea, Jaeha continued.
“The resellers will naturally disappear as supply increases. But counterfeits are different. This isn't something we can put off just because we're in a hurry. It would be difficult to engrave the case itself or modify the molds for the case material right away. Does anyone have a good idea? Something intuitive, but...”
As he spoke, Jaeha's gaze suddenly turned toward the desk. His eyes sharpened when he saw the phone Park Mijeong had placed face-down.
“Mijeong, what's that stuck to the back of your case?”
“Oh, this?”
She gave an embarrassed smile and held up her phone. A small sticker beneath the A-phone logo, visible through the transparent Aegis Case, gleamed gold.
“It's an EMF-blocking sticker. It was really popular for a while, then disappeared, remember? But I think it's becoming popular again because there have been articles lately about smartphone electromagnetic waves being dangerous. My oldest daughter bought it for me at a stationery store as a gift.”
A smile spread across Jaeha's face.
“That's it. If we place an order in Euljiro's printing district, they can print tens of thousands of those stickers as soon as tomorrow. What if we put Valence's English logo in the center and include one as a free gift? It'll let us officially distinguish genuine products from counterfeits.”
“Oh, that's a good idea.”
“It's a sticker, so people can put it on if they want, or not if they don't.”
“They could even just keep it inside the case.”
The employees eagerly agreed with him, but Lee Minho soon tilted his head and asked.
“But President, what if the people selling counterfeits print identical stickers and include those too?”
“Legally, it's difficult to punish people for using wordplay to pass off a transparent jelly case as an Aegis Case. But if they include a sticker bearing Valence's exact logo, that's clear trademark infringement.”
“Ah!”
Lee Minho let out an exclamation as he understood Jaeha's intention.
“But won't the bolder ones copy the stickers anyway?”
“They will. But it'll buy us time to move on to the next phase.”
“The next phase...?”
Lee Minho swallowed hard as he repeated the words.
“The stickers are only to buy time. We need to build a system that lets consumers directly check whether their Aegis Case is genuine or counterfeit.”
“A system...?”
“Director Jang, order scratch-off authenticity verification cards today. Cards where a sixteen-digit unique serial number appears when you scratch them with a coin, like a lottery ticket. We'll include one in every case package.”
Jaeha rose from his seat, walked to the whiteboard, and wrote, “Authenticity Verification.”
“We'll soon create an authenticity verification page on the official Valence store we're opening. Copycat companies may be able to forge stickers or scraps of warranty paper, but they can't replicate the serial-number database on our server.”
“Wow...!”
Park Mijeong clapped in admiration before raising a practical concern.
“But President, will people really go all the way to the official store and enter a serial number when it's such a hassle?”
“Anyone who wants to confirm that it's genuine will. To promote the official store's opening, we could also hold a drawing among customers who verify their products and give them 50% discount coupons for their next Valence case purchase.”
Considering that anyone who had bought an Aegis Case would never be able to switch to another case again, it was an enticing benefit.
“If it were me, I'd definitely go to the official store and verify it.”
“Me too!”
“As expected, President, you're different!”
At the employees' open praise, Jaeha awkwardly cleared his throat and scratched the tip of his nose. He was still uncomfortable with this kind of atmosphere, but honestly, it did not feel bad.
* * *
Seocho District, Seoul.
Analysis Lab, Korea Chemical Testing and Research Institute.
Senior Researcher Park Donggil, with matted hair and a grimy appearance, had their face so close to the monitor that it seemed they might press their nose against the screen.
Scattered across one side of the laboratory were the remains of Aegis Cases, which Taejin Tech had submitted for analysis with an enormous commission fee.
Fragments rapidly frozen in liquid nitrogen and split apart for electron microscope observation, along with samples dissolved into a sticky mess in special reagents for component extraction, lay strewn about.
“Does this... does this make any sense?”
Park stared at the monitor with bloodshot eyes, visibly shaken. They nervously yanked at their hair and muttered.
“The gas chromatography results and infrared spectroscopy analysis all point to ordinary plastic. It really is TPU, the kind that melts when you hold a flame to it and tears easily under a knife.”
Their gaze shifted to the structural data produced by the transmission electron microscope and X-ray diffraction analyzer.
“Then why the hell is the molecular arrangement like this?!”
Overwhelmed by the suffocating frustration, Park could no longer bear it and slammed their fist down on the desk.
Bang!
Ordinary TPU had polymer chains arranged disorderly, like a tangled ball of yarn. But the molecular structure of the Aegis Case displayed on the monitor was completely different.
A perfect nanotube lattice.
The polymer chains were woven together without a single gap, like a precisely calculated spiderweb. When the case was dropped, that web-like structure instantly dispersed the kinetic energy throughout the entire case, protecting the A-phone.
The principle was not the problem.
‘How in the world did they make this?’
They could imagine it.
Apply enormous heat and pressure, forcibly break the molecular bonds, then reconnect them like a net. If the TPU could endure it, that was. Normally, it would burn black or melt away.
Yet the Aegis Case before them had its molecular structure rearranged so elegantly and beautifully, without the slightest trace of heat damage. It was as though a god had descended and woven each molecule one by one with tweezers.
Overcome with emptiness, Park slumped back against their chair and closed their eyes.
How long had they sat like that?
Ding.
An internal messenger notification sounded.
[Senior Researcher Park, when can we receive the analysis results for the case commissioned by Taejin Tech? They are pressing us hard.]
Taejin Tech, a mid-sized company affiliated with LC.
A promising new product had come out of a small company, so they were clearly trying to make a copycat and steal its livelihood. It was not an uncommon occurrence.
Park clicked their tongue, then saw their reflection in the monitor and gave a self-mocking smile.
‘I have no right to criticize them.’
They slowly placed their hands on the keyboard.
Clack, clack-clack.
[The basic components are identical to ordinary TPU cases available on the market. However, it has an unusual molecular arrangement that cannot be explained by existing injection-molding methods. Inferring the manufacturing process and determining production conditions are difficult.]
Having wordily phrased that copying it was impossible for now, they struck the Enter key hard.
Clack!
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