New Employees With an Annual Salary of 1 Trillion Won - Chapter 29

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Team. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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Chapter 29. Ghost Story (4)

 

 

 

I reviewed and modified the Millennium Patch code line by line.

I extracted only the advantages from over 15 different types of patches and created three new versions of patches in total.

And just before the morning sun rose, I was able to show the results to the research lab members.

 

“Would you all like to take a look? I’ve made some adjustments to the Millennium Patch.”

“You really finished all that in just one day? Wow… a genius really is different.”

“What genius am I? I’m the most lacking one here.”

“Academic intelligence and work skills are different things. Just because someone gets a perfect score on the college entrance exam doesn’t mean they’re good at work.”

 

The research lab members chatted while examining the patch.

They first checked the ‘Educational Institution Version’ that could be applied to Korea University.

 

“Oh! The installation process is really simple.”

“I made it install with a single click. But that doesn’t mean it lacks functionality. It actually has more features than the existing patch Korea University uses.”

“You completely overhauled the source units. There doesn’t seem to be a single unnecessary command.”

 

After examining the functions, they looked directly at the code and continued their admiration.

After all the verification was complete, they even applauded, making me embarrassed.

 

“This is really the most perfect patch I’ve ever seen. It’s better than patches made by MS or the government’s team of master’s and doctoral students!”

“I can’t speak for other things, but the path optimization is definitely superior.”

“I’ll talk to the Professor so this patch can be applied to Korea University right away. Can we check the other versions too?”

“Of course.”

 

Having extensive experience collaborating with companies, the research lab members had no trouble analyzing the enterprise patch.

And this time, the same reaction burst forth.

 

“I tried everything to find problems, but even after searching thoroughly, there are none.”

“This is absolutely amazing. Large corporations might be different, but small and medium enterprises would pay for this.”

“The financial company version too. Small financial companies would definitely buy and use this. Should we reach out to some contacts?”

 

Of course, it would be nice if I could make a lot of money.

But I had plans to use this patch for purposes other than money.

 

“I plan to distribute it for free on Rollbook. Once the point store opens soon, there’s a high possibility of creating an image of being money-hungry. So I’m thinking of using it as a tool for image enhancement.”

“You mean to build a user-friendly image by distributing the patch for free. It would certainly be effective, but don’t you think it’s a waste?”

“The Millennium Bug is a one-time problem anyway. It’ll just flash briefly at New Year’s next year, and be mentioned again briefly the year after that at most.”

 

The situation wasn’t as serious as the media made it out to be.

There was no way nuclear weapons would be launched or financial systems would be paralyzed due to the bug.

 

“We think about it comfortably because we know the situation, but the media is stirring up anxiety, so people who don’t know are very tense. So distributing the patch for free would definitely build a good image.”

“And there could be problems if we release it for a fee. Since it was made by referencing government and corporate patches, they could find fault with it if they wanted to.”

“Come on, surely not. What patch could be this complete?”

“Rather than getting into unnecessary trouble, it’s better to at least build our image.”

 

The research lab members seemed to agree with my words and raised no further objections.

And since I didn’t think the patch I made was perfect, I had no plans for monetization whatsoever.

 

“Then I’ll upload the Millennium Patch to the Rollbook main page.”

“There’s no need to upload all three versions. Let’s just upload the educational institution version.”

“That would be better. Most of our users are students anyway. There’s no need to upload the enterprise or financial company versions. Instead, I’ll just note on the download page that we have other versions available.”

 

Actually, the enterprise and financial company patches were made for Nexpin and Tiger Fund Korea Branch.

I wouldn’t be disappointed if no requests came from elsewhere, and I didn’t expect any to come.

 

“I’ll head to work now.”

“Right now? Aren’t you tired?”

“I need to leave now to arrive on time.”

 

I had so many things I wanted to do that there was no time to rest.

No matter how tired I was, I couldn’t break my routine, so I quickly packed my things and headed to the company.

 

***

 

I arrived at the company at exactly 7:51.

I hadn’t slept properly and walked faster than usual, so fatigue was hitting me.

But my work colleagues were even more exhausted than me, despite my all-nighter.

 

“I’m here!”

“Oh! Employee Lee, you’re here? What did you do during your vacation that your face looks like that? Though I’m not one to talk.”

“Did you all not go home?”

“We’ve had no time to rest with all the collaboration requests coming from here and there.”

 

The desks were piled high with request documents all in English.

Not being familiar with English, I identified where they came from by looking at the logos.

 

“Did MS and Apple send this many requests?”

“They call them requests, but they just dump everything they want and tell us to do whatever’s possible. It’s not even like they’re being considerate.”

“I’ll help right away too.”

 

The documents filling the desks were so bothersome.

I was filled with thoughts of wanting to clear them away quickly.

Just as I was about to reach for the documents, the President quietly blocked my way.

 

“Employee Lee, we should each do what we’re good at. Can Employee Lee read English request documents?”

“Honestly, it’s a bit difficult, but I can look things up in an English dictionary.”

“That won’t be efficient. You look for efficiency so much in patent development, so why don’t you look for efficiency in work like this?”

“But I still want to help.”

 

After COMDEX, I felt the urgent need to study English.

Moreover, since Nexpin’s major clients were overseas companies, studying English was even more essential.

But language wasn’t something that could be learned overnight, and it wasn’t like C Language or patent development where gears would appear in my mind.

 

“Let’s each do what we’re good at. Do you think MS and Apple will reduce their requests just because we diligently process request documents? The work will probably increase instead.”

“Then, are you saying we need to throw something at them first?”

“That’s right. If we throw them a new patent, they’ll be too busy responding to have time to send request documents, right? So let’s just make something and throw it at them.”

 

There happened to be something perfect to throw at them.

The millennium bug patch I made during my all-night work session.

It wasn’t something MS had requested, but it was still enough to keep them quiet for a while.

 

“Actually, I made a patch yesterday at Korea University.”

“Don’t tell me it’s the millennium patch? You already made that?”

“I made an enterprise millennium patch. I’ll send that first for now. Even MS will need some time to completely analyze the patch.”

“It’s not an item on the request documents, but… alright, let’s send it. We’ll handle all the request documents, so don’t worry about anything else and just focus on the patent draft.”

 

As I sent the enterprise patch to the President’s email, I carefully added:

 

“But President, I think I need to study English too. With my current English skills, it’s difficult to collaborate with overseas companies.”

“I was worried about that too. Honestly, it’s awkward to say this, but… Employee Lee is the only person in our company who can’t even do basic conversation.”

“I’ll learn it now.”

 

English was a subject far removed from me.

But now English was holding me back.

For more technology development and collaboration, English was necessary, and for the first time, I truly wanted to study English seriously.

 

“I’ll talk to the Branch Manager and arrange for you to receive separate English education. Just wait a bit.”

“Thank you! Oh, and I also made a financial companies version patch.”

“Send that by email too. I’ll deliver it to the Branch Manager and bring up the English education topic at the same time.”

 

The President quickly took the patch and went out to meet the Branch Manager.

I rolled up my sleeves and began organizing my thoughts.

Now, it was time to create a new patent.

 

First, I recalled the patents I had made so far.

The core was ‘portable electronic device operable with one hand’.

As I thought of various ideas to strengthen that aspect, the gears in my head began turning rapidly.

 

‘I need to make the button method slightly different.’

 

I picked up the prototype I had made for developing the small HDD.

Although it was still incomplete, it boasted much larger capacity than existing MP3 players and could hold over 100 songs.

 

But there were several problems.

Operating many songs with just buttons was uncomfortable for the fingers.

To move from the first song to the last song, you had to press buttons dozens of times.

 

‘There’s no need to press, is there?’

 

What if I used a rotational method instead of pressing buttons?

Just by spinning it with your finger, you could quickly search through songs, and it would be much easier to operate with one hand.

 

‘The patent for Apple could be the rotational button method, but what should I give to MS?’

 

An idea came to mind simultaneously with the thought.

MS, obsessed with dominating the PDA OS market.

The technology for them was already decided.

 

Multi-task system.

Should I call it ‘multitasking’ functionality?

Current PDA OS had a structure where all previous programs would terminate when one app was executed.

 

‘Speed is an issue though.’

 

Ultimately, how the user perceived it was the important issue.

It didn’t actually have to be used simultaneously, but as long as it appeared that way, wouldn’t that be enough?

 

Various ideas gushed forth.

I began writing various patent drafts to implement the multitasking functionality.

 

***

 

As I became absorbed in work, quitting time arrived before I knew it.

Actually, our company didn’t have set quitting hours, but the President always encouraged leaving before dinner to prevent work overload.

 

“If there’s nothing urgent, everyone go home! Anyone who didn’t go home yesterday must leave now!”

“There are still mountains of request documents to process! How can I go home leaving this behind?”

“New request documents won’t come in for a while, so don’t worry.”

“Really? MS and Apple couldn’t have suddenly changed, so did you do something?”

“I didn’t do anything, the Youngest Employee did. When I threw them the millennium patch, they showed quite a bit of interest. They’ll be quiet for a while analyzing it.”

“Wow! So we can really go home now! Employee Lee! Thank you so much!”

 

My colleagues were shedding tears of joy.

In this situation, I couldn’t bring up the new patent draft.

Since the draft wasn’t perfectly completed yet, I decided to delay the disclosure timing a bit.

 

“I still have a little work left, so I’ll finish it and then go.”

“Youngest Employee must leave at 6 o’clock from now on. You have to go study English. The Branch Manager personally approved it.”

“If I receive both C Language education and English education, won’t my working hours be reduced too much? Instead of 6 o’clock, I’ll personally attend an academy at a later time.”

“Why would you go to an academy when the company is supporting you? Is there anyone who objects?”

 

The President raised his voice so the entire department could hear.

Far from objections, enthusiastic support and cheers poured out.

 

“The Youngest Employee’s brain is still soft, so he should do it now for it to sink in well.”

“And if the Youngest Employee goes on a rampage pouring out patents, we won’t have time to process them. Working until exactly 6 o’clock is right!”

“Education is also an extension of work! Going to study is natural!”

 

Usually, when the person next to you leaves work first, it would make you feel bitter.

But our department members were the opposite.

Since the workload would decrease if I left early, it was a natural reaction in a way.

 

“You heard that, right? So Employee Lee must leave at exactly 6 o’clock. And the Branch Manager specially recruited an excellent English teacher, so you absolutely cannot skip.”

“Understood. But where should I go?”

“It’s close to the company. I’ll write down the address, so go there right now.”

“Well then, I’ll be leaving work first.”

 

After receiving the address, I headed to the education location.

The building looked more like an ordinary office building than an academy.

The moment I opened the door and stepped inside, an unexpected figure was waiting for me.

 

“Branch Manager?”

“Welcome. Starting today, I’ll be taking charge of Employee Lee’s English education.”

 

To think the specially arranged English teacher was the Branch Manager.

The saying that education is an extension of work wasn’t said for nothing.

Now I was going to study English with someone who wasn’t just a workplace superior, but at the level of a workplace owner.

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Team. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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