The Chairman Who Wants to Play and Eat

Chapter 41. If you can, go ahead and try.

I headed towards the school.

“I’ll drop you off right in front of the lecture hall.”

The campus was regaining its vibrancy.

It looked good.

Compared to other departments, the law school had an overwhelmingly heavy study load, so the atmosphere around it had been dreary throughout the exam period.

Especially with the second round of the bar exam overlapping.

But now, it was over.

Banners were noticeable everywhere I went.

— Congratulations to Law School student Jang Cheol-jin on passing the bar exam.

— Congratulations to Law School Class of 7X, ‘Pride of Eobinjae,’ Ma Jin-sang on final bar exam success!

But then,

Wait a minute?

“Did I just see a familiar name pass by?”

I doubted my eyes.

“Mr. Lee, if I may.”

“Yes.”

“About Eobinjae. Was there a fellow student named Ma Jin-sang? If my memory serves me right.”

Mr. Lee smiled brightly in the rearview mirror.

I knew right away.

“I saw correctly, didn’t I? Please tell him to congratulate me on my behalf.”

“Actually, he mentioned that too. He said he would thank you for the scholarship later. He promised to be someone who would definitely support you in the future.”

I chuckled.

“Tell him not to get in my way.”

Helping me?

Who?

I had no need for help, and even if I did, it would only complicate things.

Even now, I could name at least ten people who would nod along if I were to make soybean paste with red beans. I didn’t want to add one more to that list.

In the meantime, the car arrived in front of the main building.

“Arrived.”

I said as I got off.

“Mr. Lee will be heading to the company. I’ll go to the engineering building after my class, so I’ll be there shortly.”

Mr. Lee replied, looking somewhat troubled.

“I’ll wait until you’re done.”

“You really don’t have to.”

“Then if you let me know, I’ll come back to pick you up.”

“Well, if you insist.”

The car drove away.

After checking that there were no professors around who knew me, I hurriedly made my way to the classroom where my class was held.

I had heard some news not long ago.

It was about something that happened during the dean’s meeting.

Dean Lee Jae-bong from the College of Engineering got into an argument with Dean Oh Seong-kwon from the College of Law and, in a fit of anger, revealed everything he had heard from Professor Eom Nam-jun to everyone.

It was about the new program I had created as a practice, called ACCEL.

He even mixed in some exaggerations about its genius.

‘Why would Professor Eom pass that kind of talk to the dean?’

Thanks to that, Dean Oh was furious.

I heard he was harassing the professors every day. He couldn’t let the engineering college take me away, or something like that.

It was quite a situation.

Both of them would nod even if you told them to make do with rice instead of red beans.

I shook my head.

I arrived at the engineering college.

There were fewer people who recognized me. I felt a bit relieved.

I entered the engineering building where the Department of Electronic Engineering’s lab was located.

I opened the door.

The usual greetings of “Are you in there?” and “How have you been?” had long been omitted between us for months. The atmosphere just wasn’t right for that.

More than that, there was something I wanted to confirm with him today.

I called out to him directly.

“Professor Eom.”

“······Yes?”

His unkempt face, unwashed for days, was filled with fatigue.

“I brought the program I showed you last time. I’ve improved it a bit. Would you like to take a look?”

In an instant, his eyes sparkled.

“Axel?”

“Yes.”

“Let me see. Please.”

“Before I hand it over, I need you to promise me one thing.”

It seemed he had already forgotten what happened a few days ago. A question mark appeared in his eyes.

“The condition is that you don’t tell anyone else about Axel. Only then will I show it to you.”

He nodded his head.

“Yes, yes. Of course.”

“You said that last time too.”

“This time I mean it. So hurry up…”

He looked anxious.

I handed him the diskette.

A moment later,

“Now the graphing function is perfect.”

Professor Oh clapped his hands after testing a few newly added features. He seemed pleased.

“That’s a relief.”

“But this time it took you a bit longer. The difficulty is definitely increasing. You did well enough, though.”

“Yes, it was difficult.”

I readily agreed.

“Since our computer can only express four colors, it took me a while to decide how to combine colors when I had to display more than four distinguishing lines. The colors need to look good for the graph to look good, right?”

For a while, he didn’t respond.

“So, have you finished everything now?”

He asked.

“I’m only planning to do this much. It’s just for fun and practice, after all.”

“Then what will you make next?”

“Well, I haven’t thought that far yet. Oh, and there’s one more thing I want to give you, just a moment.”

I took out another diskette from my pocket and handed it to him.

“What is this?”

It was a diskette labeled “vaccine” in English. Professor Uh asked.

“It’s nothing special. Just hold onto it.”

“Excuse me?”

“There will come a time when you’ll need it. I’ll go to the next room and run my computer, so please finish up what you were doing.”

I stepped outside.

In truth, I didn’t even need to say that last part. Professor Uh wasn’t the type to rise just because I was leaving.

More than that,

‘How will he react to my little prank?’

Thinking of the surprise that would await him in a few minutes made me chuckle. I regretted not being able to see it in person.

A few minutes later,

‘Should I turn this off then?’

Professor Eom Jun turned off the power to the sub-computer that had been running Axel. If too many computers were left on, there would be chaos in the department office at the end of the month. The electricity bill would skyrocket.

But what was this?

The computer didn’t turn off.

“Hmm?”

Instead of shutting down, a single sentence appeared on the monitor.

– I’m the VIRUS. If you want to turn it off, Wait ONE minute.

Time passed awkwardly.

One minute went by.

With a click, the monitor went dark. The computer finally shut down normally.

It was an experience I had never encountered before.

Thinking I might be seeing things, I turned the computer back on and then off again. The same phenomenon repeated.

No matter how many times I tried, it was the same.

Only then did Hyun Seong-yun’s words from when he left come to mind.

“There will come a time when you’ll need it.”

Could this be what he meant?

I took the diskette I had received out of the drawer. The letters spelling VACCINE finally caught my eye.

Puzzled, I examined the contents.

But inside, there was only a single file labeled vaccine.exe.

Executed.

Nothing happened.

It felt bland.

Perhaps it was because he was a scion of a conglomerate, but he seemed to enjoy meaningless pranks.

There was no helping it. I thought I would have to check the details properly later as I turned off the computer.

With a click, the computer shut down normally, without a message.

“Uh? It’s working now?”

I felt as if I were possessed by a ghost.

But,

He did not know.

The fact that he had experienced the first virus created in Korea and had also cured it with the first vaccine developed in Korea.

I heard it.

Huh? A sound twice.

It seemed that the code I had embedded in the Axel program, named ‘virus,’ had activated.

I couldn’t help but laugh.

‘This is a small punishment for talking about my program anywhere. Please don’t do that in the future. Next time, it won’t end as a prank.’

I hoped my intentions were well conveyed.

*

Early winter had arrived. The weather had turned chilly.

November had come.

A lot had happened in just a month.

First,

[ Success in developing 64K DRAM by Seonghyeon Electronics, the third in the world after the US and Japan! ]

The semiconductor had borne its first fruit.

It was an incredible race against time.

The gap between the normal and the giant could not be bridged, and they lost the first place.

Although the factory was just about to be completed and mass production could not be initiated immediately, the moment the prototype of a properly functioning domestic DRAM was born was witnessed and announced for the first time.

On the long-awaited announcement day,

“Dear employees, we at Seonghyeon have done it!”

As I watched Chairman Hyun Byeong-geon declare success with a trembling voice, I couldn’t help but think to myself.

‘Ah, this is really happening.’

I never thought I would come this far.

I didn’t say it thinking it would work from the beginning.

Anyway, what’s done is done. There’s no helping it. I should just stay still.

As I was thinking that,

“Everything is thanks to you, young master, or rather, Manager Hyun.”

President Im Doo-won, who was standing beside me, whispered.

“Me?”

“Yes. Who would have thought that just earlier this year we would be leading the semiconductor development front, overcoming giants?”

His tone was filled with emotion.

“Right.”

I replied simply.

I didn’t want to ruin his mood with unnecessary words.

As expected,

At that moment, the words of my grandfather, Chairman Hyun Byeong-geon, who still hadn’t finished speaking, also pointed to my name.

“…In particular, I would like to commend Manager Hyun Sang-yoon, who has made significant contributions to the establishment of the TF and has worked tirelessly for the semiconductor industry and national service.”

Of all places, my name in this important setting?

Really?

My grandfather’s intentions were clear.

He wanted everyone listening to engrave in their minds that I was not just a member of the founding family, but a key talent of Seonghyun.

To put it simply, it was a warning not to get complacent.

And so the event concluded.

On the way back to Seoul,

“It seems the chairman holds you in high regard. To include your name in such a historic declaration is remarkable.”

He might be speaking without knowing, but this assistant scratched at my insides while driving.

“Is that so?”

From noble mtl dot com

“You have no idea how overwhelmed my heart was.”

“…Yes.”

I answered nonchalantly.

“By the way, young master, what will you do about that?”

Suddenly, Deputy Lee shifted the direction of the conversation.

“What do you mean?”

“Isn’t it Steve Jackson’s birthday in a week? A few days ago, I received the invitation and placed it on your desk, sir.”

Ah, that?

“Yes, I know.”

“Are you going?”

“I’m not going,” he said.

“But it’s his birthday. Won’t he feel disappointed if he doesn’t receive any congratulations?”

Disappointed?

He’s not a child; that’s unlikely.

Besides, it’s not easy to travel all the way to America for something like that. International travel isn’t completely free.

There was another reason as well.

“It’ll be fine,” I said.

“So instead of going, I’ve sent an amazing gift. I sent it on time, so there’s no room or reason for disappointment. It’s definitely a gift he’ll love.”

America,

I had been waiting for this moment.

In Steve Jackson’s hands, there was a box containing an international parcel.

“A gift from Mr. Hyun. What could it possibly be?”

I was curious.

I quickly began to unwrap the parcel.

I checked the contents. It was a diskette labeled ACCEL.

“ACCEL?”

It was a name I had never heard before.

I immediately turned on my computer and ran the file on the disk.

A few minutes later,

He realized that this program called Axcel was far more impressive than the spreadsheet BizCalc he had been using and selling bundled with the Apple II.

A question arose.

“How on earth did Mr. Hyun get this?”

He couldn’t have learned programming in the meantime, could he? Did the employees do it for him?

But the surprises didn’t stop there.

It was after he had been testing the features of AXEL, lost in a trance and forgetting to sleep, that he finally closed the program.

An unexpected message popped up in the prompt window.

— Shutting down.

— Formatting the floppy disk. The ACCEL program is entering irretrievable deletion to prevent duplication.

— Shutting down the computer.

It was automatic.

There was no time to react.

Finally,

– I’m the VIRUS. Want this program? Catch me if you can.

The moment he saw that line on the screen,

“Ha ha ha ha!”

Laughter burst from his lips. It was enough to bring him to tears.

“Just as I thought, Mr. Hyun! He’s truly someone who understands me!”

It was a delightful and joyful gift. Among all the birthday presents he had received, it was one of the few that stood out.

A little while later,

He picked up the phone.

“James?”

– Steven, what’s up?

“You know BizCalc, right? They’re still asking for three times the amount?”

He got straight to the point.

– That’s correct.

“Those greedy b*stards. No more negotiations. Kick them out right now.”

Steven Jackson said clearly.

“Also tell them that we no longer need that trash. Even if they offer three times, no, four times, five times more, I think I’ve just found a better program that we must use.”