The Next Step
“What? Kim Siwon is the capstone design advisor?”
“Yeah. It’s probably the first time Professor Hwang Junhak has ever done that in his teaching career. Being a capstone advisor, I mean.”
“Huh. Seriously?”
The story about Professor Hwang Junhak and Kim Siwon reached Ji Minhwan’s ears.
It was only natural that it would.
After all, one of the professors close to Ji Minhwan’s family was also a professor in Korea University’s Computer Engineering Department.
More precisely, he was a professor who had received quite a bit of money from Ji Minhwan’s family.
“I’d already thought it was odd. I’m taking Professor Hwang Junhak’s class, and he knew Kim Siwon’s name.”
“You’re in the same class? Then don’t touch Kim Siwon in that class.”
“Come on, what would I even touch of Kim Siwon’s?”
“What do you mean, what? I mean don’t go stealing his code or using it without permission.”
“I won’t do that anymore, haha.”
But although Ji Minhwan said, “I won’t do that anymore,” his mind was anything but simple.
Why Kim Siwon?
What was so special about him?
Was it because he was first in the class?
How could I get more of Professor Hwang Junhak’s attention?
Should I make sure this research-style report is amazing?
After running through the calculations in his head, Ji Minhwan made a request to the professor in front of him.
“I have to write a paper-style report for Professor Hwang Junhak’s class this term. Could you help me with at least the abstract later?”
“Of course. My own research is going well thanks to your father, after all.”
From Ji Minhwan’s perspective, there was no reason to be embarrassed about saying things like that in front of his parents.
He already knew the professor’s weaknesses, so he had every reason to think, I’m better than him.
“Hahaha. I don’t know why my son likes Professor Hwang so much.”
“Exactly. He must be stuck in some little room, doing nothing but research, and he’ll never build the kind of connections that get someone made department chair or given a professorship.”
“Well, just... I guess I like his research field and things like that.”
Ji Minhwan’s reason for liking Hwang Junhak was simple.
And it had nothing to do with the research field.
Back in high school, he had been the person his father tried to bribe so he could place in a coding competition, only to fail.
He himself did shady things, yet the professor who had climbed to that position without any of it looked impressive to him.
“By the way, what kind of student is Kim Siwon?”
At Ji Minhwan’s father’s question, the professor answered while carefully watching Ji Minhwan’s expression.
“Ah. He’s the top student in the same department. He also runs a startup club.”
“So he really is a genius, then?”
“Hahaha. Well, he’s just a student who works hard. His family situation isn’t great, so he’s clawing his way to hold onto the top spot.”
“I see.”
Ji Minhwan’s father immediately sensed that Kim Siwon was no ordinary kid.
A kid whose family circumstances weren’t good, yet who kept his top ranking while also working hard at club activities.
A kid with a reason for his son to be wary of him like this.
“Do your best to catch up to him.”
“Yes, sir.”
Of course, none of the people in that conversation thought Ji Minhwan would ever catch Kim Siwon.
＊＊＊
Can you come by today?
Yes, Professor. What time should I visit?
Anytime after four is fine.
I have class at four. Would five-thirty be all right?
Five-thirty works. See you then.
I had been busy meeting professors for quite a while.
Whenever I needed to update them on the project, I met Professor Hwang Junhak, and when I needed to discuss the paper or anything related to Your Paw, I met Professor Shin Dongjin.
I still hadn’t even registered the business yet, and somehow the time it took to run one was already piling up.
Even so, I was happier than I had been in my past life, when I had run in place over and over and gotten nothing for it.
“You’re going to see a professor again today?”
Ha Juwon had been watching me work on my phone for a while, and now she asked cautiously.
When I looked up at her, there was sympathy overflowing in those eyes of hers.
“Yeah. Professor Shin Dongjin today.”
“Ugh, why this time?”
“I heard there might be a paper in the works that uses a lot of our AI tech.”
“But when they say they’re writing a paper at the lab, does the professor actually write it himself?”
“I don’t think so. The students probably write it, and he’ll be listed as corresponding author.”
My club members were still college sophomores in every sense of the word.
Just ones who could code unbelievably well.
So there were limits to how much they could help when it came to shaping the real business side of things.
It was awkward to set our sights on publishing a paper about our product in a journal, and it was even more awkward to expect deep business guidance from them.
Still, they were capable friends, and by the standards of my previous life, they were loyal too, so I had no complaints about working with them.
I just always found myself wondering whether there wasn’t some better way to make their abilities shine.
“If I told the club members to write a paper, they’d probably freak out, right?”
“You mean as promotion for our product?”
“Yeah.”
After thinking it over, I casually let Ha Juwon in on my worries.
She thought for a long moment, then answered calmly.
“Choi Yeonghun would probably like it, but I think only Choi Yeonghun would like it.”
“What about Jeong Hyeonwoo and Seo Jeongwon? If they’re already handling development with Choi Yeonghun, maybe the three of them could do something together.”
“You’d be better off getting those two to enter competitions.”
“Then what about you?”
“I’m the PM.”
“You do development too.”
“I’m the worst at it among us.”
At Ha Juwon’s firm answer, I shook my head.
I was disappointed.
I was disappointed that, until Your Paw gave us a clear app development request or a government support program opened up, there wasn’t much I could do with these precious people.
Then have them compete.
Just then, Badugi popped up on my phone screen and spoke in a little speech bubble.
A competition. Right.
I was confident about competition results themselves.
In my previous life, our club had gone to so many contests that people joked we were a programming competition club rather than a startup club, and we’d won awards at plenty of international events too.
Still, I wasn’t sure how much that had really helped with founding a business, so this time I had been letting those activities rest.
But now that Badugi was telling me to try competitions, I found myself unexpectedly tempted.
Would winning competitions help business too?
The more marketing points, the better. And later, when you apply for support programs or take on investors, having competition results in your field is always an advantage.
I didn’t make very good use of that in my previous life...
You’re not planning to live like your previous life, are you?
At Badugi’s blunt words, I nodded.
Right. In practical terms, it would definitely be a pretty solid result to expect from college juniors.
“All right. Maybe we should prepare for a competition.”
“Oh. Topcoder SRM or Codeforces? ICPC is way too far off, though.”
“Let’s think about it. I’ll call you after class, on the way to see the professor.”
“Okay.”
With that conversation over, I went to class.
In a very peaceful state of mind.
But that peace shattered the moment the lecture began.
“Hello, I’m Kang Sangyoon from JH Medical. Nice to meet you.”
Because a face I could never forget had walked into the lecture hall.
“You all know JH Medical, right? It’s the number one company in every field, from pharmaceuticals to medical devices, and today Mr. Kang Sangyoon, a section chief there, has come to speak to us.”
The professor introduced Kang Sangyoon with a look of pride, while the students stared in confusion, wondering why someone from a healthcare company was suddenly here for a Computer Engineering class.
And there, in the middle of them, I failed completely to keep my expression under control.
There was no way I could.
He was the bastard who had ruined our company in my previous life.
The one who had stolen everything our team had built under the bait of a partnership agreement.
“Haha. Since we’re in healthcare, it’s not completely unrelated to you all. We want this field to benefit as much as possible from machines and computers too. Faster, safer research, and all that~”
Just looking at that face pretending to know what it was talking about made it impossible to control my emotions, so I lowered my head.
Even while he was delivering that spiel, he clearly understood nothing about digital healthcare.
There was no need to listen carefully to nonsense from a man like that.
But even if I didn’t want to hear it, Kang Sangyoon kept on droning.
He was laying the groundwork.
For an event I had momentarily forgotten, but one that had been coming all along, to finally begin.
“Anyway, the reason I’m here is that JH Medical will be holding a hackathon with Korea University.”
A hackathon.
A competition where teams made up of developers, planners, and others build a service that fits the given theme within a set time limit.
JH Medical had also held a hackathon with Korea University around this time in my previous life.
Our club had participated then too, and we won the grand prize.
Right after the win, there had been all kinds of talk about investment support for the idea and whatnot, but everything had fizzled out.
And yet through that vaguely lingering thread, we had all been hit square in the back of the head in the end.
“Haah.”
I hadn’t known that bastard had come in person to announce the hackathon.
Now that I had learned something I would have been better off never knowing, I felt terrible.
“I’ll give you more detailed information about the announcement. Since this is a competition with prize money, please pay close attention~”
I forced down the urge to stand up and walk out right then and there, and stared instead at the desk in front of me.
I didn’t need to listen in detail.
It would just be prize money for the winning teams, and an opportunity to receive investment and start a business.
“If anyone has more questions, leave them at this email address~”
While I sat there frozen, blankly staring with a stiff expression, Kang Sangyoon took his applause and walked out of the lecture hall.
Only then did I lift my gaze from the desk.
Once the emotional storm passed, I could think a little more clearly.
“Well, if anyone wants to apply for the hackathon, say so. There’s an application form here. You can apply later too, but it’s better to gather people a little earlier.”
Hackathons are supposed to be about showing up on the spot and competing with ideas and results you’ve put together quickly from the day the event begins.
But although that may have been how hackathons started, these days it was hard to find anyone entering with absolutely no preparation at all.
Modern hackathons drew everyone from teams that had already finished broad ideation to people who simply submitted something they’d already built.
So it made sense for the professor to say it was better to gather people early.
“Can we just take the application form now?”
“Yes. Take it. If you’re unsure, you can come pick one up later from the department office.”
I raised my hand first and went to collect an application form.
Of course, from the standpoint of someone who knew the true face of JH Medical and Kang Sangyoon, joining those bastards’ little feast was hardly appealing.
But resentment was resentment, and profit was profit.
It was one of the most reputable and well-known hackathons for university students in the country, and I wasn’t about to throw it away for personal reasons.
Besides, I wanted to hit JH Medical with something they couldn’t brush off as a vague, half-baked promise of investment support like before. I wanted to surprise them with something genuinely finished.
Guys. Let’s prepare for a hackathon. The one JH Medical holds every year.
Now it’s time to switch the positions of the side in power and the side being pushed around.
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