As soon as I arrived at work, Yoo Jin-young informed me that there was another call from the United States.
(Hello? CEO?)
“Yes, it’s me. What is it this time?”
Oh Min-woo called so frequently that it was no longer surprising.
Today, he must have participated in a forum at 【Stanford】,
(Today, I met some really amazing people.)
I had a feeling about it.
(They aren’t as good as Jung-woo and me, but their ideas are no joke.)
“Who are they?”
(You probably wouldn’t know them by name. They are the ones who hypothesized the first phase of our search engine. They are preparing to present a paper next month. Unfortunately, they are behind us and will need major revisions.)
“Really? They must be quite talented.”
(As I mentioned before, if we hadn’t created the search engine, they would have made something almost identical. Actually, if they hadn’t met us today, they would have continued their research in that direction.)
As I listened, a name kept coming to mind.
Ray Burin.
Mikhail Pace.
In my past life, they were the founders of 【Single】, a dominant force in the IT ecosystem.
‘Around this time they are at 【Stanford】 graduate school, the probability is quite high.’
I was curious but not enough to ask their names.
After all, Oh Min-woo was spilling everything in detail.
(Later, Ray himself logged onto 【Jungle】 to check the performance of the search engine. He shook his head with a pale face, saying it was wrong. He was planning to make a lot of money.)
“Did he really say that?”
(I mean, his expression said so.)
“Haha… Got it, got it.”
(Aren’t you surprised?)
“About what?”
(That they discovered the search engine algorithm later than us at Stanford in the U.S.)
“Surprising? It’s natural. You and Jung-woo are the best, aren’t you?”
I said what he wanted to hear, ‘You’re the best.’
(It seems you finally recognize our brilliance.)
“Yes, I already miss you.”
(Be patient. We have to stop by 【AltaVista】 before coming back.)
“Indeed.”
(By the way, 【AltaVista】 is quite anxious. They are worried we might team up with 【Yaho】.)
That would never happen.
Even if 【Jungle】 wanted to, 【Yaho】 would never accept.
‘In my past life, they were the company that dismissed even Ray and Mikhail’s search engine algorithm.’
Although the direction could change in this life, the possibility seemed low.
Just as 【Single】 declined after adopting the search engine in my past life, in this life, they might end up using 【Jungle】’s search engine.
‘The search engine created by Ray Burin and Mikhail Face will probably be much inferior to ours, making this scenario more likely.’
I started to get curious about the future.
How will 【Yaho】 change?
Will 【Single】 even be born?
Can 【AltaVista】 hold out for a long time?
The next day, Woo Sang-won and Jang Yoo-cheol finally returned.
Lee Hyun-woo went out to greet them.
As soon as they got into the car, Woo Sang-won spoke.
“I think it’s about time the CEO had a chauffeur.”
“No, this is more comfortable.”
It was true.
Lee Hyun-woo liked driving.
Even in his past life, he was offered a company driver but refused and drove himself.
Starting the car and feeling the acceleration gave Lee Hyun-woo a peculiar thrill.
“Ah, CEO. Do you know German by any chance?”
“I do.”
“What? Really?”
“I learned it as my second language class in high school and kept studying it because it was fun.”
It was partly true, and he could manage basic conversation from living in Germany for two years in his past life.
“Wow, Jung-woo was right. You are a genius.”
“Manager Jang, compared to the two people who created the MP3, I am nothing.”
Lee Hyun-woo spoke with a smile, as Jang Yoo-cheol interjected.
“But why do you ask about German?”
“I brought some German newspapers. I was going to ask someone who knows German to interpret them later…”
“Oh, I can do it.”
I wondered what made them bring German newspapers.
As I pondered this, they insisted on going to the office.
“It’s almost quitting time.”
“Just this once, please.”
“Yes, I really want to read the German newspaper accurately. I heard there were many articles about 【Jungle】.”
Did they hear this at the forum?
Lee Hyun-woo reluctantly turned back to 【Jungle】.
Upon arrival, Yoo Jin-young looked surprised to see the three of them.
“Jin-young, coffee for me.”
“I’ll have coffee with lots of sugar.”
After requesting their orders like in a coffee shop, the two entered the CEO’s office and handed Lee Hyun-woo the newspapers.
Lee Hyun-woo accepted them with an awkward smile.
“Let’s see. Deutsche Telekom, considering entering the music industry with 【Jungle】? Oh?”
“Really?”
“Seriously?”
“No way? We haven’t been contacted at all. Oh… it says here they are reviewing it.”
“Oh…”
“Yes…”
“Let’s check another newspaper.”
Another newspaper contained an article about MP3 files developed by 【Jungle】 becoming a new form of business in Korea.
Other newspapers mainly introduced the company 【Jungle】.
As Lee Hyun-woo summarized the articles, the two men sipped their coffee brought by Yoo Jin-young, smiling proudly.
They seemed to feel a sense of pride.
Lee Hyun-woo let them enjoy the moment in silence.
Then, breaking the silence, Woo Sang-won spoke first,
“At the forum, a few people said that while the standard of the internet is set by the U.S., and the world wide web by the U.K., the standard for music might start in Korea.”
Another wave of pride washed over.
To fully indulge in the atmosphere, Lee Hyun-woo poured another dose of patriotic pride.
“Is music enough? We should set the standards for search engines, portal sites, online auctions and shopping, and even SNS.”
“Yes, indeed. But what is SNS?”
“Oh, that?”
Lee Hyun-woo realized he had mentioned something that hadn’t come out yet.
“This time, Director Oh developed something big. Making friends through blogs and finding friends.”
“Oh, that thing you mentioned before?”
“Yes, I named it ‘Social Networking Service.’ It means a network of relationships among people. We call it SNS for short. Well, only I do for now.”
When they were in Germany, Lee Hyun-woo had already informed them about this blog over the phone.
Excited about finally being able to check it out, the two men were on the edge of their seats.
“Shall we go down and check it out? There are quite a few interesting features.”
They must have been really curious.
As soon as the words were out, both men stood up and headed outside.
Simultaneously, Yoo Jin-young was entering the room.
“Um… Can I leave work now?”
Lee Hyun-woo glanced at the time.
It was already past six o’clock.
“Oh? Why haven’t you left yet?”
“I couldn’t leave before the CEO. But I really need to go to my English conversation class.”
“Oh, from now on, let me know in advance and leave on time.”
Yoo Jin-young hesitated.
Despite almost a year of working together, she still couldn’t raise her voice around Lee Hyun-woo.
Even now, she whispered her resignation like a mosquito, making Lee Hyun-woo chuckle.
‘People don’t change their personalities easily.’
In that sense, Woo Sang-won and Jang Yoo-cheol seemed incapable of changing their developer nature.
As developers of the MP3 player, they were currently discussing amazing ideas.
“Team Leader, don’t you feel like we are a step behind?”
“Indeed. They have created something incredible.”
“Looking at this, I wonder if we’ll be satisfied with what we’ve been working on.”
Jang Yoo-cheol was examining the blog with a serious expression.
It felt like his friend Oh Min-woo had once again taken the lead.
Woo Sang-won felt similarly.
“Here is the friend recommendation feature.”
“Yes, among the ‘people you may know,’ I actually see my high school friend.”
To make this possible, new personal information needed to be updated.
In other words, new fields such as birthplace, alma mater, and current workplace were added to the personal information record.
Of course, there were options to make this information public or private, so it was up to the individual.
“Whew, I feel like sending a message to my old friends. Just as Manager Jang said, our design might get overshadowed by this. But if you think about it differently, won’t this feature make the blog more popular?”
“Certainly. Even those who haven’t created a blog might start now.”
“Then it’s actually better for us. The more blog users, the more music we can sell.”
“Shall we talk to the CEO about it?”
“Yes, let’s bring it up right away.”
The two had certainly just arrived in Korea.
Yet, as soon as they arrived, they were engrossed in work again.
Simultaneously, they were cautious about being rebuked by Lee Hyun-woo.
“Though the CEO hasn’t left, it’s after work hours, so he might not listen to our ideas.”
“Not only might he not listen, he might kick us out.”
“How about we ask him to buy us beer for a change?”
“Haha, we had plenty in Germany…”
“Let’s say we missed Korean beer.”
And so, the two finally took Lee Hyun-woo to a nearby pub.
After gulping down a refreshing beer, Woo Sang-won began to speak first.
“CEO, before we went to Germany, we secretly designed something.”
“What is it?”
Fortunately, Lee Hyun-woo was receptive.
“Isn’t the current blog too plain?”
“Well, that couldn’t be helped. It was made when we used modems.”
“Yes, and now we are in the era of high-speed internet.”
“That’s right.”
“So, I think it’s time to let users design their own blogs.”
“That… that sounds good.”
Lee Hyun-woo, filled with anticipation, listened intently, swallowing his saliva.
“Director Oh has already updated the blog to make it more active. We can add designs to it. Good designs can even be sold. Especially if we use celebrity backgrounds. Of course, we need to negotiate trademark usage fees first.”
“That’s something Manager Han or Manager Kang can handle.”
“Yes, and music too. Can’t we use it as background music? This would provide additional income for the original artists, benefit us, and make the blogs more vibrant.”
“Great! That’s a fantastic idea! Let’s start implementing it from tomorrow!”
