Villain’s Programming - Chapter 291



Only Noblemtl

Episode 291 Google’s Voting

In his plush office, Larry Page pressed his hand to his temple.

‘How do I do this?’

The Chinese Internet censorship notice arrived at our headquarters. Actually, I already knew this would happen, so it wasn’t a big shock.

However, Larry was simply dumbfounded by the results that were so far removed from the common sense he had known.

“This makes me feel deep in my bones that China is a communist country.”

Sergey Brin, who was in the office, nodded at Larry’s words.

“That’s right. China is a communist country. I think other people don’t think much of it. This problem is the result of that.”

Sergey Brin, who co-founded Google with Larry Page, was born in Russia, so his desire for freedom was stronger than anyone else’s.

Then the large man sitting across from Sergei spoke.

“Whether it’s capitalism or communism, the important thing is money. If the Chinese government has made this decision, it should think about how to make money accordingly.”

He was Google’s CEO, Eric Schmidt.

He was not the founder of Google, but he was someone whose abilities were recognized and brought in by Larry and Sergey as a professional manager for Google.

“Hey, Eric. So you’re saying we should just accept China’s censorship?”

“Isn’t that obvious? Google not making money? As CEO, I absolutely cannot accept that.”

Sergei looked at Larry with a frustrated expression and said.

“Larry, speak up. You said a while ago that you would rather withdraw from China than be censored.”

“Yes, we did. But Sergey, as you know, Google is not just our company anymore.”

Larry considered withdrawing, but Eric Schmidt strongly opposed it.

Eric Schmidt was the CEO of Google. Even though he was the founder, his opinion could not be ignored.

Moreover, Google executives supported Eric Schmidt’s opinion. Larry could no longer just put forward his own opinion.

Sergei shouted in frustration.

“Then what are you going to do? Are you really going to accept censorship?”

“We have to accept it. Even if we abandon the search engine market because its share is small, we can’t abandon YouTube, right?”

In my previous life, YouTube didn’t enter China, but in this life, thanks to Dojun, I entered China early. As a result, I earned a lot of income from China.

The problem was that this censorship was not limited to search terms. The Chinese government was also censoring all videos.

Larry Page thought for a while at the two people’s words, then his eyes widened.

‘Wait, YouTube?’

A person came to Larry’s mind.

‘Then he might give you some good advice!’

Larry told Sergey and Eric.

“Why not ask a third party for their opinion instead?”

Sergei frowned.

“A third party? Are you going to leave Google’s fate up to an outsider?”

“No. Not an outsider. There’s someone who has more influence than anyone else at Google, but doesn’t interfere with management at all. The one genius I recognize. Don’t you know who he is?”

Sergey and Eric Schmitz spoke simultaneously at Larry’s words.

“Dojun!”

“Dojun Hwang?”

Larry nodded at the two men’s words.

“That’s right. Do-jun. Let’s ask him. What should we do? How about you two? I want to do whatever Do-jun says.”

Sergei and Eric thought for a moment and then answered.

“If it’s Dojun, you can trust him. If it’s Dojun Hwang’s foresight that gave Google YouTube and Android… you can trust him.”

Eric Schmitz also said after hearing Sergei’s answer.

“I recently invested in Apple and made a huge profit thanks to Dojun Hwang. I can trust his opinion that he is willing to invest in competitors for profit.”

Although the two people trusted Do-jun in different ways, they trusted him the same.

“Okay. Then I’ll contact Dojun right away.”

Dojun immediately picked up his cell phone and made a call. There was a short beep and Dojun’s voice was heard.

* * *

Dojun tilted his head as he looked at his ringing cell phone.

‘It’s Larry, right? Larry wouldn’t have just called… Did he receive an official document from China?’

Dojun immediately pressed the call button.

– Hey, Dojun, how have you been?

“Of course. How have you been, Larry?”

Larry sighed deeply and answered.

– No. I haven’t been doing well. I’m going crazy these days.

“Because of China?”

– Dojun… It seems like you’re living in my heart! The same goes for AI. How did you know this time?

“I thought that by this time, an official document would have arrived from China.”

– Hey, Dojun. Why don’t you just become a fortune teller? I’ll leave all the decisions I have to make at Google up to you.

Dojun chuckled.

“I’ll think about it when I retire. But Larry, what’s there to worry about? I thought you had made up your mind the last time I saw you.”

– That’s what I mean… … .

Larry Page sighed deeply and told everything that had happened. He said that it was not an easy decision to make because Google executives were joining in on Eric Schmidt’s opposition.

‘Did something like this happen in my past life?’

This was something that even Dojun, who had lived in a previous life, did not know.

‘It’s certainly something CEO Eric Schmidt would object to. I can understand the executives’ position, too.’

The company’s purpose was to pursue profit. Of course, if such censorship were to take place in the United States, it would naturally be opposed, but it was not wrong to say that they would do business in China under Chinese law.

“So how did you conclude?”

– I couldn’t pay.

“What? Then what are you going to do? You even sent an official document?”

– That’s why I called you. Tell me what you think. Sergei and Eric are in my room right now, and they’re all listening to your opinion.

Dojun opened his mouth wide. He was listening, but he felt that the nuance of his words meant that he would follow what he said if he expressed his own opinion.

‘This is driving me crazy. Why are you leaving this to me?’

Dojun said, pondering how to respond.

“Larry, I don’t think this is an easy answer. I’ll think about it and get back to you.”

– Oh, of course. Okay! Think about it carefully and contact me. But I don’t think I can give you much time. I think I have to answer to the Chinese government.

“Okay. I’ll contact you by tomorrow at the latest.”

– Thank you. And I’m sorry for asking such a troublesome question.

“No. I am also a director and shareholder of Google. It is only natural.”

Do-jun hung up the phone and clutched his head.

‘How do I do this?’

I could have just told them to withdraw as easily as they could have in their previous lives.

‘But then I’ll have to intervene in history again. Then the black tree will grow bigger.’

Of course, since I had withdrawn from China in my previous life, it might not be a problem if I were told to withdraw this time.

‘But that’s unlikely. Even if I were to tell them to withdraw now… the timing would be different from my previous life. To be exact, I don’t know when Google announced its withdrawal in my previous life.’

If the time were different, countless things could have happened in the meantime.

‘Eventually, I ended up intervening.’

This was no ordinary intervention. It was a change in the fate of Google that could change the course of the entire world.

‘What should I do? How can I prevent the black tree from growing bigger even after I intervene?’

I thought about it, but the answer didn’t come easily.

‘I don’t know what the Black Tree will do when it grows bigger. The Shi Huang AI I saw back then must be working on something even now.’

Dojun, feeling frustrated, decided to take a breather by searching the Internet.

‘Huh? Baeksent invested in Supercell?’

The article reported that Baeksent had acquired a 20% stake in Supercell.

‘crazy!’

Supercell is a Finnish company famous for developing ‘Clash of Clans’.

‘2012! Ah… this is the year that Clash of Clans was released!’

‘Clash of Clans’ was a huge hit game all over the world. If Honor of Kings was a hit game in China, ‘Clash of Clans’ was the game that achieved the number one mobile sales in every country around the world.

It was a game that was ranked #1 for several years, not just one or two months.

‘But how did Baeksent already buy Supercell?’

In the previous life, in 2015, Japan’s Softbank bought a 51% stake in Supercell for $1.5 billion. A few years later, Softbank sold it to Cent for several times the amount, and Supercell became a subsidiary of Cent.

‘There are few people who know about Supercell. I had completely forgotten about it until I read the article. But Baeksent took over? It was definitely the Black Tree, or rather, the Emperor AI, that moved.’

The problem was that it was unclear whether the acquisition was simply for the sake of making money or if there was some other reason.

‘Google and Supercell… This is driving me crazy.’

Do-jun, whose head was complicated, turned off the computer and left the office.

Maybe because it was around 4pm, everyone was working hard.

‘They’re really working hard to make the Gaema Musa DLC.’

Even after its unprecedented hit, the sales of Gaema Musa continued to increase steadily.

Naturally, the company was developing DLC ​​to not miss this.

‘We should all go on an overseas workshop this time.’

When Do-jun was making up his mind, Kim Dong-jin suddenly stood up with an irritated expression and said.

“Eight. You’re calling again. How on earth did you get my number and call me?”

Dojun, who was just passing by, asked.

“Mr. Dongjin. What’s the matter? What’s wrong?”

Kim Dong-jin responded to Do-jun’s words with an “Oh no” expression.

“Oh… no. I just got a spam call.”

“Is this spam? This isn’t voice phishing?”

“No, that’s not it. I guess it’s because the election is just around the corner, but I keep getting calls asking for opinion polls.”

“ah!”

Dojun snickered. Even in the future, he still got the number somehow, and he would get a call about once a week asking for a poll.

Kim Dong-jin said grumblingly.

“Seriously, if there’s a candidate who says they won’t allow phone polls, I’ll vote for them.”

Dojun snickered at Dongjin’s words. It was because his own feelings were similar. But then.

‘Huh? Wait, voting?’

Dojun opened his eyes wide and shouted.

“That’s right! There was a way! Thank you, Dongjin!”

Do-jun tapped Dong-jin on the shoulder and went into the CEO’s office. People looked at Dong-jin, but Dong-jin also had a puzzled expression on his face, not knowing why.

As soon as Dojun entered the CEO’s office, he immediately called Larry.

“Larry!”

– Huh? Dojun.

“You asked me something earlier. You asked me to give you my opinion.”

– Oh. No way? You’ve already come to a conclusion?

“huh!”

Larry asked in a very nervous voice.

– What is it?

“It’s a vote! This agenda item is about deciding the future of Google. Let’s vote on two agenda items, not just the executives, but all Google employees.”

Larry asked in a surprised voice at Dojun’s words.

– What? A vote for all employees?

“Yeah. I think Google employees will be deeply concerned when they find out about this. It’s for Google, right? Why don’t we listen to the opinions of those who have created Google?”

– A vote? That’s unexpected. Okay. That’s your opinion, so I’ll discuss it with Eric and Sergei.

Larry was silent for a long time. It was about five minutes later that he spoke again.

– Dojun, I decided to vote.

* * *

It has been revealed to the world that Google is holding a vote among all its employees over the issue of ‘Chinese censorship’.

[Google. World’s first executive vote on ‘Internet censorship’.]

[Business first or freedom first?]

As soon as the article was published, everyone became interested in this unprecedented vote. This was the same for netizens all over the world.

– Of course it’s free! We shouldn’t submit to China’s oppression!

– Freedom is good. But what if we withdraw? Google’s department will disappear immediately, and the employees will have to quit. They will become unemployed. On the other hand, if we leave it alone, jobs will be guaranteed, and it may even increase. This is not an easy decision to make.

The ‘vote’ proposed by Do-jun caused a huge stir. As the debate heated up, it soon developed into a confrontation between freedom and capital.

The TV panel even led to a heated debate among university professors.

This wasn’t just happening in the US. It was happening in every country that did business with China, big or small, including the UK and France.

Because they realized that Google’s problems were not just Google’s problems, but their own problems that would come at some point.

Dojun was shocked after seeing the news on TV.

‘This is driving me crazy. How can it be like this?’

Google’s proposed vote, which it could not decide on its own, has now become a topic of interest around the world.

The heat is so hot that interest has grown as much as the US presidential election.

The broadcasting station conducted interviews with Google employees, and the front of Google headquarters was lined with broadcasting vehicles.

[This vote will take place at Google offices around the world, not just in the United States, and will last for 24 hours.]

As election day arrived, the world’s attention was focused on Google.

Everyone said that there had never been, and never would be, such interest in a company’s internal voting.

‘ha.’

Dojun went to Google Korea and voted. He was an outside director at Google and therefore had voting rights.

When I came out after voting, I saw blue sky.

‘What will the outcome be?’

Even Dojun couldn’t know this much.

100,000 Google employees around the world participated in the vote. Even Dojun, who had experienced his past life, could not know what was in their minds.

‘I can either withdraw like in my past life, or I can accept censorship in this life.’

What the employees wanted most was nothing else: a stable job and higher salaries.

If we look at this alone, the ‘pro-Internet censorship’ side actually has the upper hand.

Dojun shook his head.

‘I really don’t know.’

Dojun thought that perhaps this ‘vote’ could change the future a lot.

So 24 hours passed. And at 11 a.m. San Francisco time, Larry Page announced the results of the vote live on YouTube.

.