The Chairman Who Wants to Play and Eat - Chapter 47



Chapter 47. Who knows, maybe I’ll be the first?

On the way back,

Hyun-hee-jae couldn’t contain his anger.

“Ugh, so annoying!”

The words spoken by my father, Chairman Hyun Byeong-geon, kept echoing in my ears. He somehow knew about the movie review I had done.

“Hey, Hee-jae.”

“Yes, Father.”

“Stop doing useless things and be more restrained this year. If you waste money on something strange again, your position will be in danger then. Do you understand?”

“Ho ho, what do you mean by strange? Father, I don’t do such things.”

“If you’re going to be an adult, at least take after Sang-yoon half as much. Just getting older doesn’t make you an adult. You have to act like an adult to be one.”

I was so tired of it.

“That damn Sang-yoon, Sang-yoon!”

As soon as I arrived at the office, I threw my handbag to the ground. Still not satisfied, I stomped on it with my foot.

“Do you think that will bring the building down? You need to stomp harder.”

“Hey, you scared me.”

My second brother, Hyunseungjae, the president of Seonghyeon Trading, was sitting on the sofa, staring blankly.

“When did you get there?”

I tried to return to my usual tone. Hyunseungjae smirked.

“I’ve been here since before you arrived.”

“If you were here, you could have at least made some noise. I should fire those secretarial staff. They can’t do their jobs and yet they don’t even bring up these kinds of things.”

“Do as you please. Looks like my little sister is quite angry?”

“Does it not look like I am?”

Without needing to say it, we both knew who I was angry with.

“But why are you here?”

Hyunheejae asked again.

“Why am I here? I thought I’d come to comfort my only little sister since she’s so upset.”

“The real reason!”

“I came to share some good information because I feel sorry for you, working so hard to get in your father’s good graces lately. Stop looking at me like that; you’ll get wrinkles.”

He continued to joke around while revealing his true feelings.

‘Good information?’

Hyunheejae immediately seized on it.

“What is it about?”

“It’s nothing much, just about the second branch your company is building in Gangnam.”

“That? Seonghyeon Construction is doing a good job on that, so why?”

The unexpected words came out.

“Well, I thought if you had just a bit more money, you could expand the construction as you wish and regain your father’s favor. But it seems you’re not that interested. If that’s the case, then forget it. I’ll just leave.”

Hyunseungjae exaggeratedly started to rise.

It was a bluff.

She knew that much. But it was time to grab hold. She reached out and tightly grasped her brother’s sleeve.

“What’s the rush, brother?”

“You said you weren’t interested, so why the sudden change? I’m busy too. I should be going now.”

“No, don’t do that. Sit back down. Let’s have a cup of tea.”

She shouted towards the outside, and the secretarial staff hurriedly brought in tea.

They sat facing each other, leaving the tea between them.

“What’s that you said earlier? Can you explain it in detail?”

“What do you mean?”

“About that second location or whatever. Don’t pretend you don’t know, just tell me. What is it? What kind of information is it?”

Hyun Seung-jae chimed in.

“Oh, that’s not good. This isn’t information I can just give away so easily… Ah, whatever. Still, she’s my only little sister, so I should show some generosity.”

“If you’re going to share, just do it quickly.”

“That’s what I’m saying. I know someone who’s a wealthy person. Her name is Jeong Hyeon-ja.”

Jeong Hyeon-ja?

It was a name I had never heard before.

And what? A wealthy person? I felt a wave of skepticism wash over me. Mid-sentence, I scoffed.

“There’s no one who claims to be wealthy who isn’t a total fraud. Hyun Seung-jae, have you really sunk that low? When did you start hanging out with those kinds of people, oppa?”

At that, Hyun Seung-jae got defensive.

“Hey, don’t talk nonsense. She’s not like that. She’s a really decent lady.”

“So how decent is she?”

“She’s loaded. Apparently, she has about 200 billion won.”

“What? 200 billion?”

Suddenly, my ears perked up.

“But why would someone like that… suddenly?”

“Why do you think?”

Thanks to that, Hyun Seung-jae was now feeling quite proud of himself.

“If you have a lot of money, you should invest it. The more you invest, the more it grows, right? If there are people like us who are doing big things but are trapped by legal constraints and have no liquidity, we can lend to them. Isn’t helping each other out part of our good customs?”

Liquidity,

I felt like I had stumbled upon a good excuse.

But agreeing with my brother’s words made me feel a strange sense of pride. I decided to push back a little.

“I don’t know, I’m not interested.”

Hyun Seung-jae silently celebrated.

When my sister acted like this, it was 99% certain I had won. I could relax.

“You have time, so think it over. This time, I’m really leaving.”

I said, “Well, I’m not saying I’ll do it, but I think I need to think about it. Still, just in case, give me Jeong Hyeon-ja’s phone number, okay? I won’t be going far, so be careful on your way.”

A moment later, Hyunheejae thought.

‘Hyun Sang-yoon, you little brat.’

This won’t do.

I have to do this.

He believed that as long as he had enough bullets, he could easily defeat his nephew, Hyun Sang-yoon.

Unexpectedly, an opportunity had arisen.

It was the perfect chance to reclaim his father’s favor and make that annoying nephew hear, “Just try to resemble your aunt a little.”

He gazed at the note on the desk.

[ Jeong Hyun-ja: 02-##-#### ]

It was a lifeline.

*

Thus, the holiday filled with chatter and troubles passed.

February arrived.

It had already been a few weeks since he returned to the United States. The last month of winter break.

As expected, everything was going smoothly.

First, Starfox.

‘Now that we’ve achieved our goal of entering San Francisco, it’s time for Santa Clara and Cupertino. We need to establish one location next to Apple and Seonghyeon each.’

‘Once we conquer the West, it’ll be the East’s turn. We have to start with New York. Isn’t it the dream city where money gathers?’

Indeed, he was a person brimming with ambition.

George Howard began expanding his branches without rest as soon as the money started coming in.

He was aggressive.

In less than a month since the investment, the number of branches had already increased by five compared to before. Of course, he had no intention of stopping. He planned to expand even further.

It was astonishing.

‘I don’t know where he finds the time.’

A day is not 48 hours. It’s 24 hours.

Time is the same for everyone.

During that time, mastering Russian or Hindi, or developing a new OS isn’t difficult, but achieving more than that is challenging.

To consistently open more than one store a week for an entire month.

Wasn’t it possible only because it was Howard?

That’s why I believe in him.

Like a moth diving into the flame.

“I’m glad I invested in him.”

New York, what an ambitious dream.

Is he thinking of entering Times Square or maybe the Trump Tower?

Then one day, I received a call from Howard.

“Mr. Hyun, you’ll be coming, right?”

“Where to?”

He smiled and explained.

Tomorrow is the opening event for the newly opened Starfox Cupertino branch. He wanted me to come.

“Well, I’m not sure.”

“I can’t hear you well. I’ll take that as a yes. Ah, you’re coming, right?”

“Ah, yes.”

I wasn’t particularly eager, but I decided to go anyway. He continued speaking.

“Stephen Jackson will be there, and his friend Stephen Kowalski will be joining us too. Actually, it was Koz (Kowalski’s nickname) who asked for this. He really wanted to meet you.”

He mentioned that Koz had become a fan of mine.

Anyway, it felt nice to hear that a star engineer from Apple was my fan.

And so, the day of the event arrived.

“Congratulations, Mr. Howard. You’ve opened the 10th Starfox location.”

“We’re aiming for 100, then 1,000 locations!”

The place was packed with people.

Many local residents came to check it out, but it seemed that the majority were Apple employees who worked nearby.

How could I tell who was an employee?

You can distinguish between residents and Apple employees after just one glance.

You can’t miss it. They have a unique aura.

That’s when it happened.

“Mr. Hyun!”

From a distance, Stephen Jackson shouted as he recognized me.

“I knew you’d come. I’ve missed you so much. Oh, and this is my friend and business partner, Stephen Kowalski.”

“Nice to meet you. Just call me Koz. It’s more comfortable that way. Anyway, I’ve really wanted to meet you. Finally, my wish has come true.”

Kowalski (Koz) had a warm and friendly demeanor, unlike Jackson.

It was after they shook hands.

“By the way, what on earth is this?”

Koz suddenly asked.

“What do you mean?”

“I mean Axel. I was genuinely surprised. Did you code it by hand?”

“Of course. I wouldn’t do it with my feet.”

He laughed at my joking response, as I had nothing else to say.

“Naturally.”

He laughed more than I expected, to the point of embarrassment.

“I’m not someone who gets beaten in coding, but I’ve never done it with my feet in my life. There was that one time I hurt both my hands and had to tap with a straw in my mouth, though. Hahaha.”

I understood right away.

This person is serious.

“I see.”

With serious people, you have to be careful with jokes.

“I also saw SH-DIR. For something implemented in ANSI, it was quite impressive. It was art. While it may not be immediate, I also agree with the direction that a WYSIWYG-based graphical user interface (GUI) is needed. As you know, we’re developing the OS for our new product lineup at Appel with a GUI. A bitmap interface. We will be the first in the world.”

Before I knew it, he began to spill out words.

“So, about that.”

“Yes, Koz.”

“I thought someone like Mr. Hyun would definitely be interested in this, so I was curious about his intentions. Would you help us?”

Jackson interrupted mid-sentence.

“I told you, Koz. This guy is a competitor. If he wanted to help us, he would have fought for us.”

“You could ask him one more time.”

“Oh, come on.”

The two of them bickered.

But both were wrong.

First, Jackson’s claim that he has no intention of helping.

No, he does have the intention to help. Because Jackson is someone who connects with me.

He had resolved in his heart to help until the day he was ousted from the board.

Second, Koz’s words were the same.

“You’re mistaken.”

It was time to tell that story.

“······What do you mean something is wrong?”

“I mean the term ‘the first in the world.’ It’s incorrect. Because······.”

Before I could finish my sentence, he interrupted my explanation.

“It’s because the OS running on the WEROCS Star is the first, right? Ha ha, I know that too. But that computer was never commercialized, was it? Oh, you mean the Lisa? It didn’t even sell ten thousand units. So, our AOS will be the first GUI OS to be successfully commercialized in the future······.”

I cut him off again.

“That’s not what I meant.”

From noble mtl dot com

As I pointed to myself, I said,

“I meant that we still don’t know who will be the first. That GUI OS. I’m also working on something separately.”

At my words,

“What did you say?”

“Is that really true?”

They both chorused in surprised voices, as if asking when we had fought.

“So, what I mean is that it hasn’t been decided yet which will be the world’s first: AOS or the GUI OS I will create, Windeye. Let’s have a fair competition. Who knows, I might be ahead of Apple?”

On the way back,

“Starfox looks cleaner than I expected. I heard it will be available in Santa Clara soon?”

Deputy Lee Beom-seok, who was driving, asked me.

“I’ve heard that too.”

“It’s good, but I’m worried it might be too fast.”

“It has to be fast. If we want to lead the trends.”

I mumbled.

Inside, I was thinking something else.

The idea for the GUI OS, Windeye, came to me not long ago.

Thanks to Jackson.

If you think about it, everything is thanks to him.

It all started from there.

Getting into programming, practicing by creating things like Axel and SH-DIR wouldn’t have happened without his encouragement.

“Let’s wait and see who will be first.”

The solemn words he left me with when I left Korea were always deeply etched in my mind.

To be honest, I don’t think an OS like Windeye is necessary at this point.

It’s enough with just a dose.

And,

That’s precisely the real reason I’m creating WindEye.

Someone might ask.

If that’s the case, wouldn’t it be better for Kowalski to temporarily join Appel and help create that AOS as authorized?

No.

That’s knowing one thing and ignoring two.

It’s far more beneficial for me to create a competing program for the AOS.

Because it’s inefficient.

While we engage in a bloody competition, it will incur astronomical costs.

Moreover, even if one of our GUI OSs gains an advantage after this competition, it’s clear that it will eventually be eliminated from the market.

In other words,

No matter who wins, it becomes a fight without a victor.

Is there any reason not to do this?

In the midst of this, a sudden thought struck me.

‘Could it be that Jackson calculated even this and suggested I study programming?’

For a moment, I felt a chill.

I couldn’t help but feel that I would never surpass him in foresight.

It’s no wonder I’m called a genius at such a young age in my twenties.

“Sir?”

The voice of the assistant jolted me awake.

“Oh, yes.”

“What are you thinking so deeply about? We’ve already arrived.”

There was a note of concern in their voice.

“With all the busy work at the company these days, what will you do if you get sick from working all night on the computer?”

“That won’t happen. Don’t worry.”

“Next week is the completion ceremony for the new building of Seonghyeon Electronics. The chairman will be coming from Korea as well. After that, you’ll need to prepare for your return. You’re busy, so please take care of your health.”

There was a barrage of nagging.

The car departed, and I stepped inside.

But I had no intention of resting. I needed to create WindEye before Jackson. I had to beat him.

That was the way to help him.

And I knew it.

Helping him was ultimately the only way to help myself.

At that moment, Cupertino,

“It’s probably a bluff.”

Jackson said sharply to Kowalski as he arrived at the office.

“Why do you think that?”

“It doesn’t make sense. We have seven veterans working on developing AOS. We’ve already come halfway.”

“So?”

“Does it make sense that Hyun-sang-yoon could beat our Apple all by himself?”

He went on to say that Hyun-sang-yoon was still attending school in Korea, that it wasn’t like he had 48 hours in a day, and that it was impossible for him to do that.

But Kowalski had no response. Jackson asked again.

“Don’t you think so?”

“Well…”

He finally spoke up.

“My thoughts are a bit different.”

“Why’s that?”

Kowalski answered Jackson’s question in a cautious voice.

“If it were someone else, maybe. But if the code I saw was indeed written by that person, I don’t think the outcome is certain yet. We might even lose. Because when you develop alone, the human factor diminishes.”

He was a serious person.

“Fine. Think what you want.”

Jackson scoffed.

But inwardly, he thought this.

‘You’re throwing down the gauntlet, huh? Alright, I’m Steven Jackson. I won’t back down without a fight. I’ll accept that challenge.’

Meanwhile,

At Microsoft headquarters,

‘What is this? This unsettling feeling?’

It was at that moment that a chill ran down the back of Bill Gates, the president of Microsoft, who was engrossed in developing a new BASIC interpreter commissioned by IBM.

It was a feeling he couldn’t quite place.

It wasn’t because of the temperature.

In an office filled with computers, it was impossible to feel cold. In fact, even in winter, the air conditioning would often be running.

But then,

“Strange. I feel like I just lost a huge fight.”

It was a sensation reminiscent of when I was selling X-DOS.

Yet no matter how much I pondered, I couldn’t uncover the source of that feeling.

I shrugged it off.

It’s probably nothing, I thought, as I turned my gaze back to the monitor and began to focus again.