The God of Coding, Becoming an IT Conglomerate

42. new era

After finishing all his business in the United States, Hoyoung returned to Korea.

“Director. The weather is very cold.”

“thank you.”

Miru took out a coat from her carrier and handed it to Hoyoung.

Compared to relatively warm San Francisco, January in Korea was very cold.

“You know what? San Francisco is cool even in the summer.”

“Is that so? I had never been to the West, so I didn’t know.”

“Even in summer, the temperature is around 20 degrees. There is a lot of wind.”

“I’ll have to go there for my summer vacation from now on.”

Thanks to the job in California ending sooner than expected, Hoyoung was able to return to Korea quickly.

I thought about spending a few more days in New York, but there were so many things to do in Korea.

It was 1:00 PM when we arrived in Korea.

Hoyoung, who checked the time, said to Miru.

“Then shall we go to work first?”

“Are you going straight to work? How about taking a little break? You have to adjust to the jet lag…”

“I came to sleep soundly in a spacious first class seat. That is rest.”

At Hoyoung’s insistence, Procrastination decided to follow Hoyoung’s words.

Finding the car parked at the airport, they headed to the H&H office building.

After a while. When Hoyoung arrived at the company, the first person he found was Kim Jintaek.

“Hoyeong-ah, did you have a good time? I heard about it. I heard you were amazing at ECEC?”

“Thanks to everyone who prepared well together.”

They were only seeing each other again in two weeks, but they smiled and asked each other how they were doing.

“By the way, senpai, what do you mean by wanting to change the development direction of Legend of the Wind?”

After some small talk, Hoyoung finally got to the point.

The day before the ECEC was held, Jin-taek called the hotel where Ho-young was staying.

– I’ve been talking with Gyeongtae, but I think we need to change the direction of development.

At that time, Hoyoung was also busy preparing for ECEC, so he decided to talk when he returned to Korea and hung up the phone.

So, as soon as I returned to Korea, I started looking for Jintaek.

“You know Ketel?”

“Kettel? PC communication?”

“okay. You know it too.”

Kettel was one of the few PC communications serviced at the time.

It was developed and serviced by the Korea Economic Daily, but is currently popular as free PC communication.

Ketel is later acquired by Korea PC Communications, that is, future KT, and the name is changed.

That is ‘Hitel’, which dominated an era of PC communication.

“Then do you know what mud is?”

Hoyoung nodded.

MUD stands for Multi User Dungeon.

It was like the progenitor of online games.

No, it was no different from an online game by itself.

It was only made up of text.

“Of course Mud knows. Senior, the story you want to tell…”

“okay. How about making Legend of the Wind a multiplayer game?”

Hoyeong was surprised to hear Jintaek’s words.

The first graphic-based online game in Korea was The Legend of the Wind.

But it wasn’t until 1994 that the game was released.

So, Hoyoung wanted to lay the foundation for making online games in the future by producing a single game first.

Surprised, when Ho-young didn’t say anything, Kim Jin-taek, who accepted it as a sign of rejection, spoke to Ho-young in a serious voice.

“We played that game too.”

“Is that the game?”

“I mean Sonic.”

The expression on Jin-taek’s face as he talked seemed very uncomfortable.

“I felt it after running the demo version of Sonic. The legend of the wind we are making is not even close to Sonic’s toes.”

Hoyoung almost nodded without even knowing.

That’s how well Sega made Sonic.

The reality was that there were still quite a few differences between Sega and H&H game development departments in terms of game technology.

“senior. Just follow along slowly. We are now like newborns who have just been developing games for a few months. Sega has been making games for over 10 years already.”

However, despite Hoyoung’s words, Jintaek’s expression showed no signs of improving.

“I think that’s nothing more than a loser’s excuse. I want to make more fun and impactful games than Sega.”

Hoyoung thought that Jintaek Kim was really an unknown person.

He was a person that I usually only thought of as a gentle person.

However, if he had to compete with someone, especially in terms of programming, he would become a more passionate man than anyone else.

“The game that has the ripple effect is the online game. You mean this? What does Kyung-tae say?”

“Gyeongtae? He’s not crazy either.”

“yes?”

“He also likes what I think. Rather than making a mediocre game, it’s about making the world’s first multiplayer game. But I want you to wait just one month.”

“one month? What happened?”

Kim Jin-taek shook his head as if he was dumbfounded.

“If you don’t know anything about communication, you say you’ll master it within a month, right?”

“Where are you now?”

“He must be stuck somewhere and studying communications.”

Song Kyung-tae’s passion was no less than Kim Jin-taek’s.

After thinking for a while, Hoyoung said to Kim Jintaek.

“Then, senpai, let’s try it.”

“okay? Do you think you have a chance?”

“yes. I think that’s a good idea. By the way…”

“yes?”

Hoyoung paused for a while before saying.

“First of all, find senior Kyungtae and ask him to stop studying PC communication.”

“then? Don’t you need to know about PC communication to use the network?”

“no. There is no need to use PC communication. For now, please work on client development first. I will talk about the network separately. If training is needed at that time, I will tell you what kind of training will be conducted.”

“i get it. Then, you can set the detailed schedule. Then, can we complete the client first?”

“yes. I think even if you stop making games for now, you should think about it again from the planning stage. After all, single games and online games are completely different.”

At Hoyeong’s words, Jintaek nodded.

“right. I’ll have to call the planning team first. And don’t worry, development doesn’t have to stop.”

“You don’t have to stop?”

“Because I thought that would be the case, so I told them to start working on characters, monsters, and items.”

Jin-taek smiled as if he was embarrassed.

“You didn’t start with this mindset from the beginning, did you?”

“It’s not like that. It just happened that the part that was planned first was your part.”

It was clear that he was lying by gently avoiding Hoyoung’s eyes.

Ho-yeong noticed Jin-taek’s feelings, but decided to pretend not to know.

“Then senior. Once the planning is complete, you can start producing the client right away. How long are you thinking about the development period?”

“Well······. What do you think about the next two years?”

Hoyoung thought for a moment.

“2 years. Okay. That’s enough. I will tell you about the network as soon as possible.”

“okay. Thank you very much. I will try to make the best online game.”

After that, after chatting a bit, Kim Jin-taek left for the studio to find Song Tae-gyeong and tell him the news.

‘If you’re going to make an online game, there’s no need to base it on pc communication.’

PC communication is currently a novel and innovative technology, but it has many disadvantages.

Expensive subscription fees, subscription fees, and closed collectives.

In addition, there were many problems with the communication method using modems and telephone lines.

Not only was it not possible to use the phone when PC communication was in use, and due to the exorbitant price of 20 won per 3 minutes, there were many cases where the monthly phone bill exceeded 100,000 won.

‘Should we accelerate the start of Korea’s Internet?’

Hoyoung agonized over whether he should immediately implement the plan he was originally planning to carry out in a few years.

The original plan to execute when producing the online version of The Legend of the Wind.

‘Is this really the most profitable choice for me now?’

worries in a short time.

If the era of high-speed internet opens now, we had to consider the case where competitors develop first.

This is because Korea has developed rapidly despite the poor environment of ISDN, which has only advanced one step from a telephone modem rather than high-speed Internet.

Hoyoung finally came to a conclusion.

“Yeah, even if I can’t eat it. Anyway, I have to make the profit.”

I thought about it for a long time, but after making my decision, I acted quickly.

Hoyoung, who spoke the word of determination in a voiceover, immediately checked the time difference with New York and picked up the phone.

“I want to speak to Jinchan Lee, who is currently staying.”

Hoyoung called the hotel where Lee Jinchan was staying.

The operator at the hotel returned the phone to Lee Jin-chan’s room.

It’s midnight in New York, but it’s not yet time for Lee Jin-chan, who falls asleep at dawn.

– Hello?

“senior? I am Hoyeong.”

As expected, Lee Jin-chan was not sleeping.

– Hoyoung? Did you arrive in Korea well?

“yes. You arrived well.”

– What are you doing at this time… It must be midday there in Korea.

“Right. Do you have plans for tomorrow?”

– tomorrow? If you work for a short time in the morning, your schedule in the US is all over. I’m going to go to Korea on a plane the day after tomorrow.

Hoyoung thought the timing was perfect.

“Then could you stop by one more place tomorrow afternoon?”

– where?

“This is Bellcore, a telecommunications company. It’s headquartered in New York, so it’s easy to find.”

– You mean Bellcore? Okay. I’ll try to contact you tomorrow But why there?

“You can negotiate with them and buy the patent right for a certain technology.”

Jin-chan said in a voice mixed with curiosity, as if he was puzzled by Ho-young’s sudden words.

– What technology patents?

“The name of the technology is ADSL. It is called asymmetric high-speed communication technology. It is a technology that enables high-speed data communication using only existing telephone lines.

– Just hearing the explanation sounds like a great skill, right? Are you trying to sell that technology?

“The technology was completed in 1988, but there is almost no demand for it, so it must be a technology that is buried in a corner. If you give me the right amount, I’ll be able to buy it.”

ADSL is a technology that is literally buried, but it suddenly starts to rise from about the end of the 90’s.

– Then how much should I ask for the price?

Hoyoung thought for a moment and said.

“I think it would be good to start negotiating with $5 million.”

– That’s a reasonable amount. Five million dollars?

“haha. When you think about the benefits this ADSL will bring you in the future, you will think that $5 million is cheap.”

– okay. If Hoyoung thinks it’s what you really need, I’ll try. H&H has plenty of cash right now.

Hoyoung said a few words of advice to Jinchan and hung up the phone.

Then I looked at my watch again to check the time difference.

“It is four in the afternoon. 9 a.m. in France. Enough time to go to the lab.”

And I called.

It was an international call this time.

“Hello?”

After a long signal, someone answered the phone.

The stiff British English pronunciation convinced Hoyoung that she had made the right call.

“Berners Lee? This is Hoyeong.”

– Hoyoung! Long time no see. How long has it been since you contacted me?

“Looks like it’s been several months already.”

– Is the time like that? What did you call me in the morning?

The person Ho-young called was Tim Berners-Lee of the European Particle Research Institute.

“How is your WWW research going?”

– It’s running smoothly. You will probably see meaningful results in the second half of this year.

“good. Berners Lee. If you need anything, please contact me right away.”

– All right.

After hanging up the phone, Hoyoung turned on Gaia and started making plans for the future.

“ADSL is a method that allows you to use high-speed Internet with a telephone network made of existing copper wires.”

Korea already has a fairly high phone penetration rate.

“If this is the case, it can be said that the overall infrastructure has the minimum conditions.”

There are three requirements to open the era of high-speed Internet.

Internet network spread across the country, related technologies, and PC penetration rates.

Ho-young decided that if Lee Jin-chan could safely buy ADSL technology patents, he would be able to accelerate the Internet revolution in Korea.

“Whoa… I was trying to invest in a place where I could see profits right away, but in the end, is it an investment in the future?”

However, Hoyoung shook her head.

“If you can buy ADSL patents and invest in the network business, you can get big profits even within 1 or 2 years.”

The Internet penetration rate and speed of Internet penetration in Korea that Hoyoung experienced in his previous life was one of the best in the world.

Hoyeong’s eyes, which raised her head, were already looking at the Internet age.