The Famous Millionaire

“What is that method?”

Hyunwoo just smiled at that question, and then revealed a surprising promotional strategy that he had never told anybody before.

“Dakar Rally starts on Jan. 4 next year. I’m going to send Paekdu to the rally for the car race.”

“Really? Dakar Rally?”

The factory manager was startled to hear that.

“Why are you so surprised? Is there any reason for us not to send Paekdu to Dakar Rally?”

“Well….”

Suddenly, the factory manager could not respond because there was no reason at all not to do so. When he first heard the word ‘Dakar Rally,’ he felt simply that the rally was like a ‘high tree he could not even see the top of.’

The rally was notorious for a dangerous car race.

Come to think of it, it couldn’t be a better idea because it was a golden opportunity to promote Paekdu.

What is the Dakar Rally? It was called the most dangerous car racecourse in the world, often called the rally of death. As the course was too dangerous, the ratio of the participating cars finishing the course was only 30-50%, and so far 60 drivers died in the middle of the race.

Obviously, the phrase ‘rally of death’ was not exaggerated at all.

Of course, the course had as changed now. Because of the danger of war and terrorism, the participating cars passed through Atakamasa Desert in South America instead of the Sahara Desert.

“They’re now accepting applications for the rally sign-up. I’m going to show the world the prestige of Paekdu there.”e for an ordinary car racer to drive…”

“Of course. I found the racer three months ago and signed a contract with him,” said Hyunwoo confidently, nodding his head.

The car racer he scouted was an Italian who had participated in Dakar Rally four times.

Though he never won the race, he finished all of the four rallies he took part in. In particular, he was twice noted in the top ten racer list.

In other words, his competence as a car racer was proven.

So, Hyunwoo contacted him quickly and signed the contract.

The factory manager nodded his head.

“Got it. I think I have to change Paekdu a bit then.”

But Hyunwoo shook his head.

“No, don’t touch it at all. I’m going to sign up for T1 sector of the race. Just connect three more batteries.”

Dakar Rally is divided into T1 (no change allowed), T2 (partial change) and T3 (complete overhaul). Hyunwoo planned to have Paekdu compete in T1.

The factory manager felt the same way. The world would be shocked more when Paekdu outpaced the cars in the category of T3.

“Got it. I’m confident Paekdu will obviously show its prestige at the rally.”

They quickly prepared to participate in the Dakar Rally.

There was nothing to change about the body of Paekdu.

However, the factory manager increased the distance for driving on a single charge from 500km to 2000km by connecting an additional battery. If one drove at full power in the desert, the farthest one could drive will actually be 50% to 60% of the original distance.

Just in case there was an accident, the factory manager did a safety check on Paekdu.

In the meantime, the Dakar Rally began.

The starting point was the Technopolice Convention Hall in Buenos Aires.

There were more than 650,000 crowds at the start line of Selemonial.

The car that attracted the most attention was a Japanese SUV called Mini. Though it was a small-sized car, it won the rally three consecutive times.

And Mini was mentioned as the most likely winner in this race.

Hyunwoo didn’t yet disclose Paekdu to the crowds yet. The crowds at the start line would see Paekdu for the first time.

Hyunwoo made sure that the designers developed the SUV models Paekdu and Glamor in an extreme fashion the moment they worked on their design. In other words, Paekdu was intended as the property of men while Glamor that of women.

Accordingly, the appearances of Paekdu and Glamor were like military trucks. They were large in size, wide and sharp-angled. It seemed they could pass even a thick concrete wall one meter long.

Hyunwoo also disclosed the specifications of them partially. He emphasized that they were amphibious and their glass was all bullet-proof.

The crowds had high expectations of Paekdu and Glamor.

“They could be included in the top list, depending on their racers.”

“I hear they are powered by electricity. Looks like they’re very powerful.”

The Dakar Rally was a total of 9,112 km over 13 courses. All the cars didn’t start at the same time, so they chased each other, starting one after another and were ranked in the order of their finishing the course.

The rally course was varied. There were normal roads, deserts, and rough gravel roads. There was also a long section running 1,000 km at a time.

Of course, they didn’t record the mark time of the cars throughout the rally course.

In the case of the 717-kilometer route that ran from Iquique to Uyuni, they recorded the time of the cars driving only 321 km in the middle.

Every rally was caught on the broadcast camera. Participants, especially those with good records or good performances, received the most attention while they were intensively pursued by Helicam.

The main character of the rally was Paekdu. As many as two Helicams and one helicopter were following and filming Paekdu alone.

There was no other choice for them because Paekdu rewrote the history of Dakar’s rally in this competition.

Paekdu drove on and on. The four Toughtex engines were as powerful as tanks, but the car’s body weight was less than a ton, so it was like flying.

Even in the rough sand, Paekdu did not slow down. The body was so light that the tires didn’t fall into the sand easily.

The crowds were shocked to see the performance of Paekdu.

“Oh my god! What the heck is that car over there? It drives in the desert as if it was on highways.”

“It’s like tanks. How powerful its engines are!”

Paekdu was certainly overwhelming.

While other cars competed in rankings by the difference of as long as 10 minutes or as short as 30 seconds, Paekdu beat other cars by 30 minutes.

What was even more surprising was the 1,024km race on the day before the final day of the competition. Paekdu drove nonstop without even stopping the entire distance.

That was a great shock to the crowds.

“Isn’t it an electric car? How can it drive on without even charging at all?”

“I can’t believe this. This is fraud!”

And the final day of Dakar Rally.

Paekdu was ranked the first in combined scores. It beat all the cars in T1 category but also those in T2 and T3.

Several car racing experts took issue with Paekdu, calling it a fraud and demanding a full investigation.

Thanks to the brilliant performance of Paekdu, lots of rich men around the world contacted Samryong Motors, saying that they wanted to buy the model.

Glamor and Zeus models were also in pretty high demand.

Orders instantly passed over 1,000 for each model.

What was more surprising were the pre-orders for the Zeus and Flash models. Even though it was only their design and price that were disclosed to the public, their pre-orders reached as many as 1,500.

But the problem was the production line of Super Car models was not yet ready yet. Even if it were completed, its annual production capacity was 500 and 200 for each model.

But Hyunwoo didn’t want to expand the facilities. That was inevitable to maintain the brand name of Super Car as the best and most expensive luxury cars that only the super-rich could own.

Samryong Motors asked for the consumers’ understanding.

“Sorry. We can produce only 500 and 200 respectively for the models of Paekdu, Glamor, and Zeus every year. All these models up for production this year have been sold out.”

“I’m going to order one for next year.”

“We’re going to receive next year’s pre-orders, starting Dec. 1. So, wait until then.”

“Let me pay more. I’m going to pay 5 billion won now, so please add one more to my order.”

Those who could not order more because of the shortages strongly appealed to Samryong Motors to produce more Super Cars.

One zillionaire even proposed a ludicrous suggestion, “I would like to buy that Paekdu model that participated in Dakar Rally this year. How about 50 million dollars?”

Hyunwoo didn’t care at all about such an offer.

Even if he offered 500 million dollars, Hyunwoo would not sell Paekdu because it became the hero of this year’s Dakar Rally.

Paekdu itself would be recorded as the living history of Samryong Motors.

But Hyunwoo could not turn a deaf ear to other consumers’ strong request indefinitely.

And he found the solution, after all, “For each Super Car, install the production line that can produce 12 cars per year. We’re going to make all the cars manually. How long does it take to produce one car that way?”

“Well, production through manual labor needs only a little equipment. We can produce one car in a week if our employees make a quick job of it.”

“Please install the equipment immediately. Design team, you guys produce the Paekdu, Glamor, Zeus, and Flash model series. And sales team, set them up for auction, just one per each month.”

Hyunwoo’s direction was carried out promptly. And the consumers competitively bidded for the Super Car models.

During the first auction, Paekdu was old at 10.6 million dollars, Glamor at 9.2 million dollars, Zeus at 12.2 million dollars and Flash at 14 million dollars.

They were three times as expensive as ordinary Super Car models.

Hyunwoo shouted for joy. Thanks to Paekdu’s one-time participation in Dakar Rally, its models emerged as the best luxury brands in the world.

While Hyunwoo was in high spirits for his unprecedented success in Dakar Rally, there was one person who was trembling with fear.

He was Morgan, CEO of OneStar.

“Damn it. I was taken in by Hyunwoo Jang. I got swindled by him completely.”