I Became the Youngest Daughter of a Chaebol Family-Chapter 22: Economic Boom (4)

“Young miss, I told you not to eat it... Oh dear, just look at your lips.”

Lee Si-hyun sighed as she looked at my reddened eyes.

I’d ignored everyone’s warnings and insisted on eating Shin Ramyun, and this was the result.

“Haahhh! It’s spicy, so spicy...”

Tears welled up. Looking in the mirror, I saw the pathetic image of a little girl bawling like someone who’d just lost her parents (which, well, was true).

“M-Milk... huff.”

I opened the fridge and gulped down some white milk. My tongue still burned.

Who knew buying all that milk to help me grow taller would come in handy like this?

“Here, give me the rest. I’ll finish it.”

After tidying up the dishes, Lee Si-hyun approached with her hand out.

I made a deeply miserable face and clutched my ramen bowl like my life depended on it. Tears streamed down my cheeks.

“N-Nooo... I-I’m gonna... eat it...”

It had been so long since I’d had spicy ramyun—I couldn’t just give it up.

“...”

Lee Si-hyun gave me a brief, pitying look but didn’t push further.

About ten minutes later.

“Phew, that was a good dinner.”

Patting my stomach, I hopped down from the chair and grabbed my game console before heading into my game room.

It was a room I’d put together to hold all the fun things I could find in this stifling life. Right now, it only had the console, but I’d planned to turn it into a full subculture haven later.

“Young miss, playing games again?”

“Yeah.”

It had become a routine by now, so Lee Si-hyun didn’t try to stop me. She knew I wasn’t someone who could be stopped with words—and she trusted both my skills and my judgment.

“What are you playing this time? Last time someone said you were enjoying some overly Japanese stuff, remember?”

Since cultural imports hadn’t been liberalized yet, I was smuggling Japanese games in through the back door. Authority sure was convenient in times like these.

Normally, it’d be scandalous. But in this case, where my brilliance was actually more of a burden than an asset, no one said anything serious.

At most, they’d suggest I try something a bit more wholesome instead of “those Japanese games.” Unlike a typical household, me slacking off was practically recommended here.

“This time? It’s Zelna. A game called Legend of Zelna. I even secured the distribution rights.”

Though at the moment, I only had the rights—actual domestic release was still blocked by law. Still, I’d find a use for them later.

“Aha, is that little guy in green Zelna?”

“This guy’s Link. Zelna barely even shows up in the game.”

“...?”

—Beep beep.

Ugh, this game’s hard to control. Since it’s the first in a series I loved before I died, I bought it knowing it’d be rough.

But wow... no save or load system?

Total trash-tier.

“Tch.”

A little fed up, I tossed the console aside and spun around to bury my face in a pillow.

Kicking the blanket with my legs, I stirred up a little dust.

“Ugh, I’m bored. Maybe I should go tour the semiconductor factory.”

“Urgh... I don’t like it there. You have to wear weird stuff.”

True. Wearing anti-static clothing in the cleanroom was super uncomfortable and made you sweat buckets.

But I wasn’t the only one suffering—Si-hyun had to deal with it too. And since she always wore dress shirts and a full suit, she’d strip down from the heat just like me.

...If I were still a man, someone would’ve definitely made a fuss about it. But now? No one batted an eye even when I indulged a little. Lucky me.

“Then let’s not go inside the factory. Let’s just stop by the lab and chat for a bit. Not today, though—tomorrow. Okay?”

It had been a while since I’d gone out. Quickly switching roles from nanny to secretary, Lee Si-hyun pulled out her notepad and nodded.

“Understood. I’ll arrange it.”

***

Three lows: cheap oil, a weak dollar, and low interest rates.

The era of the “Three Lows Boom” had arrived, and the semiconductor industry was developing at a blistering pace.

“Ohhh! Young miss, it’s been a while!”

The lab director greeted me warmly, genuinely glad to see me—not the slightest hint of annoyance in his expression.

“Yeah, it’s been a while. Was it... half a year ago, the last time I came?”

“Haha, that’s right. You were here when we completed the 1M memory semiconductor. Hm, you’ve gotten taller too. You’re starting to look quite the young lady.”

“Right?”

I glanced at the mirror beside me and smiled with satisfaction.

There stood a ten-year-old girl to whom the word “pretty” no longer quite applied—“beautiful” was more like it. My black eyes sparkled, and my face had begun to shed its baby fat.

The head of the DRAM semiconductor research lab held quite a high position. Even I, who rarely spoke formally, used half-formal speech with him.

And rightly so. He was more ➤ NоvеⅠight ➤ (Read more on our source) capable than most university professors, and even my grandfather considered him important.

Anyway, I sat down with him to get a read on the current state of things. Even if I was on break from activity, gathering intel was something I could never afford to neglect.

“Sir, how’s the research going these days?”

At this point, the technological gap between Daehwa Electronics and the top firms had shrunk to just two years. The summit was within reach.

The lab director gave a satisfied nod.

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“Haha, excellent. Thanks to you, many of our obstacles were cleared. The researchers say they owe you their lives.”

“I just got lucky. It happened to be the area I was studying at the time...”

It wasn’t solving the technical issue that was luck—it was that I’d happened to be studying the right material when the issue came up. That was the luck.

It might have sounded arrogant, but he just laughed it off.

“Hah, that’s so like you. Though it is true... you really are amazing. If I were just a humble academic, I’d have done anything to keep you by my side.”

“But I’m sure the team would’ve figured it out on their own if they’d had enough time. They’re all brilliant.”

The lab director didn’t deny that. He, too, was a proud scientist.

“Sure, sure. But... well, semiconductors are all about timing, aren’t they?”

In high-tech industries, timing was everything. The reason they’d managed to chase Japanese and American firms to the brink was because they’d poured in their youth and passion like fuel.

If I hadn’t studied semiconductors in my past life, I wouldn’t have had a clue what to say. But this life’s superior brain had drawn endless benefit from the shallow knowledge of my past one.

For some reason, just having a vague idea of the answer cut down on trial and error by a lot.

“Ehehe, thanks for the compliment.”

This translation is the intellectual property of Novelight.

Grinning like an idiot, I unwrapped a candy from the table and popped it into my mouth.

It was sweet.

Whew... this is why I liked smart people. They actually understood how impressive I was.

“So... we’ve resumed our research again. The chairman provided generous funding, and you also gave us quite a bit in bonuses, didn’t you? Heh heh. Now that we’ve taken all that money, of course we’ve got to get back to work.”

“I feel bad for working you so hard. The researchers need a break too.”

I didn’t really mean the apology, but I was a little worried. If someone dropped dead from overwork, we had no one to replace them.

The staff at this research center were Korea’s top semiconductor specialists. Running these amazing people for 12 hours a day was pure luxury.

Sure, I was using quite a bit of my own money to pay them, but... compared to what they were doing, yeah, it still counted as passion pay.

But the lab director simply smiled and replied:

“No, this time our goal is to produce a 4M chip before the end of 1987. We’re so close to the finish line—we can’t give up now.”

...As far as I remember, the 4M DRAM was developed in February 1988. They’d just pushed the timeline forward by almost three months.

Well, I had done everything I could to intervene on this front.

I applauded them without holding back. They deserved it.

Clap clap clap.

“Wow, that’s incredible. If this really works, it’ll be a huge achievement... Grandfather will be thrilled.”

Being the head of Daehwa Group’s most important research center meant he was a highly political figure. He had a clear grasp of how the economy was moving.

“Especially with the current boom—exports are doing well, aren’t they? We need to use this momentum to boost semiconductor exports. That’s the only way Daehwa Electronics survives, I believe.”

“Oooh...”

I eagerly nodded and fanned the flames of the lab director’s enthusiasm for semiconductors. From experience, I knew that people like him loved compliments from those in the same field.

On the way back, Lee Si-hyun brought it up.

“You seem to be focusing a lot on semiconductors these days.”

Of course I was.

“There aren’t many chances like this to grow a business. Booms don’t come often.”

That said, despite this massive economic boom, there wasn’t all that much I could personally do. That’s why, even if it was inefficient, I focused on semiconductors.

I kept expanding the workforce, supervised the construction of factory facilities... It was work that would’ve progressed without me anyway, but since I had free time, I made a point to be involved.

Even just making my face known would come in handy later.

And just like that, the wave of the Three Lows Boom began sweeping over South Korea.

The foreign debt that once accounted for half of the GNP plummeted to around 15%, and the economic growth rate easily surpassed 10%. According to polls, more than 80% of people now considered themselves middle class.

January 14, 1987.

A student at Seoul National University died during a police interrogation after being subjected to water torture. As always, the government attempted to cover it up—but for once, newspapers defied censorship protocols and ran the story on the front page.

Early April.

The dollar-to-yen exchange rate hit a record low. At 137 yen to the dollar, Ha Joo-seong—now deep in the foreign exchange markets—screamed with joy.

April 13.

President Jeon Doo-gwang announced the “April 13 Protection of the Constitution Measure.” Public backlash exploded, and protests demanding constitutional reform erupted across the country.

In Japan, housing prices surged to insane levels, and the stock market continued its relentless climb. Korea’s stock market wasn’t as wild, but still boomed—starting from 200 points at the beginning of 1986, the KOSPI broke 300 on January 27, 1987, and just kept climbing.

June 9.

One of the founding members of ‘Manhwa Sarang,’ a comics club at Yonsei University that had ties to the student movement, was struck by a tear gas canister fired by police and lost consciousness.

That incident triggered the full outbreak of the June Democracy Movement.

Overall—

It was a boom.