Chapter 427 - 275: A Glorious Homecoming
She got into her 911 and drove to New York University’s Stern School of Business, her thesis in hand.
After knocking on her advisor’s office door, Jin Heon waited outside, feeling a little nervous.
Her academic advisor was one of the few professors in the public relations department who had actually worked in frontline brand strategy. He had spent over a decade at Ogilvy before transitioning to academia.
"Come in."
When Jin Heon opened the door, she found that besides her professor, there were three other students in the office who looked to be around 28 or 29. Judging by their attire and age, they were probably graduate students in the MBA program.
Students in the MBA program were usually mid-level managers with a few years of work experience, making them easy to distinguish from typical university students by their age and dress.
"Um... Professor Patel," she said, hesitating. "Should I come back later?"
"No, no, it’s fine, Heon. They were just finishing up," Professor Patel said, gesturing for her to sit down. He turned to the three MBA students and said, "This is the student I was just telling you about."
The three MBA students’ gazes snapped toward Jin Heon, looking her up and down.
"Everyone, this is Jin Heon," Professor Patel said, leaning back in his chair, his tone and gestures filled with undisguised pride. "She’s the COO of LW Sports Drink. The LW and LV collaboration you were just analyzing in your case study? She’s the one who single-handedly made it happen."
The three MBA students looked at each other in disbelief.
Looking at Jin Heon, who was much younger than them and looked more like a celebrity model from a poster than the COO pulling the strings behind the scenes, they couldn’t believe she was standing right in front of them—and apparently, a student of the same advisor.
Professor Patel was clearly enjoying the scene. He laughed and patted the table. "Alright, you all go back and polish up your case study reports. Get them to me next week." He turned to Jin Heon. "Heon, give me your thesis."
As the MBA students packed up to leave, one of the women paused as she walked past Jin Heon, giving her a look as if she wanted to say something but held back.
It was the same look Jessica had given her earlier.
’Is it jealousy? No, that’s too strong. Envy? Not quite. It’s a complicated, indescribable look.’
Mulling over that look, she handed her thesis to Professor Patel.
Recently, she had been dedicating 85% of her energy to Li Wei’s business and hadn’t spent much time on her thesis.
But to her surprise, the professor lavished praise on the paper. He said that if she was willing, he could help her revise it and try to get it nominated for an outstanding thesis award.
Jin Heon, of course, wholeheartedly agreed.
When Jin Heon left the professor’s office, she was in an indescribably good mood.
Her roommate’s sour-tinged acknowledgment, her advisor’s genuine praise, and the looks on the faces of the senior MBA students had given her vanity an immense boost.
She wrapped her coat tightly around herself and walked along the streets near New York University’s Washington Square, the cold winter wind tousling her blond hair.
She remembered the report Jessica had sent her, so she found a bench, sat down, and tapped on the link.
The report’s title was "Prospective Observations on Emerging Sports Consumer Brands · Q4 Edition." It was published by a research institute with considerable weight in the fast-moving consumer goods industry.
She skimmed the first few pages—Market Overview, Competitor Analysis, Channel Breakdown—all of which was content she knew like the back of her hand.
She didn’t stop until she reached page 17.
Starting on that page, the article dedicated nearly an entire page to introducing the valuation model and potential rating for the LW brand.
It combined Li Wei’s personal IP value, the market reaction to the initial collaboration products, the production capacity forecast from the Coca-Cola bottling line, and the overall growth curve of the sports drink sector to provide a preliminary brand valuation range.
"...Based on the multi-dimensional model above, our institution’s current valuation of the LW brand is between 800 million and 1.2 billion USD, with a median of 1 billion USD. Considering the significant potential exposure for founder Li Wei in the upcoming Super Bowl, if his performance in the event exceeds expectations, the upper limit of the valuation could be further revised to the 1.2 to 1.5 billion USD range."
One billion USD.
She held 1% of the initial shares.
One percent.
’Does that mean... the shares I hold, right here, right now, are already worth 10 million USD?’
’And if the valuation is revised to 1.5 billion after the Super Bowl... my shares would be worth 15 million USD.’
’Isn’t that the list price for that French-style villa on the Upper East Side she’d been dreaming of?’
A sudden sense of absurdity washed over her.
Just a few months ago, she had been calculating that she would have to work for 100 years without eating or drinking to earn that much money.
And now, that 100-year timeframe had been drastically compressed, turning into a much more real, tangible number.
However, her 1% stake was still subject to a four-year vesting period, meaning she would have to work for the full four years to unlock it completely.
’And in four years, LW’s market value might have already surpassed 5 billion USD. By then, she could... Shit, I really can’t think about this anymore.’
A gust of cold wind shot down the collar of Jin Heon’s coat, making her shiver and snap back to her senses.
She put her phone back in her coat pocket, stood up, and took a deep breath of the New York winter air.
Ugh. The mixture of dust, exhaust fumes, and marijuana smoke made her wrinkle her nose involuntarily and walk away quickly.
But she didn’t really want to go back to the dorm and face Jessica right now. The office was empty, so where else could she go?
Suddenly, she wanted to go home.
A deep-seated, almost impulsive longing filled her chest.
She walked back to her dorm, practically jumped into the cockpit of the 911, and as soon as the engine was warm, she stomped on the gas and sped off.
She first drove to a Korean ginseng shop near Midtown Manhattan, parked on the side of the road, and quickly went inside.
The woman behind the counter looked up and glanced at her.
"Miss," she said, her eyes flicking to the 911 parked outside. "What can I get for you?"
"That gift box of 6-year-old Korean red ginseng," Jin Heon said, pointing to a box displayed in the center of the glass counter, "and those wild mountain ginseng slices next to it."
"Both of these are the best we have in the store. You have good taste, Miss," the woman said as she retrieved the items. "The 6-year-old ginseng box is 1,289 USD, and the wild ginseng slices are 1,198 USD. That’s 2,487 USD in total. Would you like me to gift wrap them for you?"
Jin Heon raised an eyebrow and switched to Korean. "Ma’am, don’t take me for some clueless rich fool from Europe. You think I don’t know the price of Korean ginseng? Are you trying to sell this like it’s overpriced Chinese ginseng?"
The shopkeeper paused, her expression unchanging, and began to haggle with Jin Heon.
Jin Heon, feeling stubborn, rolled up her sleeves and wore the shopkeeper down for over an hour. She managed to knock the first digit off the price, finally getting the two boxes of supplements for 487 USD and even getting the owner to throw in a box of honeyed red ginseng extract.
As she left, she felt she probably could have bargained for another 20% off, but she decided against it. Time was short, and she wasn’t planning on eating at home anyway.
Not far from Ktown, near Murray Hill just a bit east of Flushing, was one of the most densely populated Korean-American neighborhoods.
Jin Heon knew this route like the back of her hand. The only difference was that before, she would take the 7 train from Times Square to the Main Street station in Flushing, then transfer to a bus to get home.
Now, she was driving a 911.
The car exited the Grand Central Parkway and turned onto Northern Boulevard. The surrounding scenery started to look familiar and worn.
The tall skyscrapers faded away, replaced by a dense sprawl of low-rise shops, signs in Korean, and the exhaust vents of barbecue restaurants spewing white smoke. The air was thick with the smell of grilled pork belly mixed with soybean paste stew.
The pedestrians on the street also changed from the elite white-collar workers in Burberry trench coats and her impeccably dressed classmates in Ralph Lauren from Manhattan to aunties carrying plastic bags out of Korean supermarkets, high school students laughing in their school uniforms, and middle-aged uncles squatting by the lottery shop entrance, smoking.
This was the place where she grew up.
Recalling the shopkeeper’s change in attitude, Jin Heon hesitated for a long moment before suppressing the urge to drive the car right up to her apartment building.
In a place like this, which had seen almost no development in ten years, any bit of neighborhood gossip would spread through the entire community in less than a week.
If she drove the car home today, by tomorrow, people looking to borrow money from her family would be beating down their door.
The thought made her thankful that her neighbors rarely went to places like Manhattan—the "real" New York.
She found a corner spot in a public parking lot two blocks away, parked the car, and sat for a moment after turning off the engine, checking her makeup in the rearview mirror.
Once she was done, Jin Heon, wearing flats and carrying three bags of health supplements, got out of the car.
She hadn’t taken more than a few steps when Uncle Park, from the corner grocery store, poked his head out from behind the roll-down security gate.
"Hey! Heon is back?" He was stocking shelves and broke into a smile when he saw her. "Haven’t seen you in a long time! You’re getting more and more beautiful."
"Hi, Uncle Park," Jin Heon said with a polite smile. "School’s just been too busy lately."
"Jeez, no matter how busy school is, you can’t stay away for so long. It’s been almost a year, hasn’t it?" Uncle Park put down the box of instant noodles he was holding. "You’re graduating soon, right? Do you have a boyfriend? I have a nephew who just came over from South Korea. He opened a small restaurant in New Jersey. Want me to introduce you?"
"No thanks, Uncle Park, I have a boyfriend," Jin Heon told a small lie. "I’m going to head home now. We’ll talk next time I have a chance."
She practically jogged to escape Uncle Park’s sight, only to turn a corner and run right into Aunt Li from the downstairs dry cleaner’s.
"Heon! Your mother was just telling me the other day how she missed you, saying you hadn’t been back in so long." Aunt Li looked her up and down, her gaze lingering on the gift bags in her hands for several seconds. "Bought so many nice things? For your mom? Such a good daughter."
"Mhm," Jin Heon curved her lips into a slight smile. "I’m going to head up, Aunt Li."
"Go on, go on. Oh, by the way—"
Aunt Li suddenly called out from behind her, lowering her voice. "I think your dad’s back! I saw him go into the building this afternoon."
Jin Heon’s steps faltered.