Trying Something Plausible
What had seemed like a trivial post on the university community board sent ripples through the entire campus.
An audit was reportedly launched against professors in every department at Korea University, including Computer Engineering.
In the process, it was found that three professors in the Computer Engineering Department had connections to Ji Minhwan’s parents.
There were also professors who had received research funding from parties other than Ji Minhwan’s parents.
Naturally, the atmosphere in the department turned a little uneasy.
“I’m glad you didn’t get caught up in anything unsavory, Professor.”
“I find the people who do get dragged into things like this more surprising, honestly.”
At Professor Hwang Junhak’s dry remark, I gave an awkward laugh.
Come to think of it, he was the kind of man who wouldn’t let us treat him to a meal that cost more than 20,000 won, so it made sense.
“They were digging so hard into whether Kim Siwon had gotten anything from your side. Apparently Ji Minhwan’s camp was furious that they were the only ones caught.”
“If they’d looked into me even a little, they’d have realized there was no background for that kind of behavior.”
“People capable of that sort of thinking don’t start messes like this.”
“Ah. Fair enough.”
After that flat exchange, Professor Hwang got straight to the point.
“A paper mentioning TA Medical’s technology is going to be published this time.”
“Where will it be presented?”
“I’ll show you. Along with the full contents.”
As expected of a paper from Professor Hwang’s lab, it was about image-analysis AI. It wasn’t a paper centered on our product; rather, it mentioned our product here and there.
Still, it felt strange to see something that had been developed less than half a year ago already being named in an academic paper.
And the venue for publication was a fairly prestigious one in the field of artificial intelligence.
“I should have asked this sooner, but is there anything you don’t like in it and want changed?”
“No. It seems to have been integrated very appropriately.”
“Good. One of the junior members who ran off this time was actually supposed to handle the communications about this, but he vanished without doing it.”
“That happens.”
“I’ll send the file to you by email right away.”
Professor Hwang’s lab was strict.
Not the kind of strictness that humiliated people or sent them on menial errands.
It was the kind that forced you not to take research lightly.
Because of that, people occasionally ran away, and this deserter had apparently been the one handling communications with us.
Still, thanks to that, Choi Yeonghun had been able to step into the role, so there was at least that.
“How is Yeonghun adapting?”
“Yes. He’s been very diligent, so I told him he absolutely has to come here for graduate school as well.”
“Haha. He does like you an awful lot, Professor.”
“Indeed. He’s a peculiar talent.”
The fact that Professor Hwang used the word “talent” made it clear Choi Yeonghun must have been giving it everything he had.
Even when he worked at the company, he improved in subtle ways from week to week.
“Then can we use this paper for a PR article or marketing material?”
“Yes. I hope it helps even a little.”
“It certainly will. Thank you.”
“Then you should get back to your real work now.”
“Ah, yes. Thank you.”
The moment the main point was done, Professor Hwang ended the conversation.
He had never been much for idle chatter, but given the timing, he seemed especially cautious.
So I left and headed straight for the club room.
Only the few people who still had classes left were working there.
“Why are you here already, Siwon?”
“These days, we have to be careful.”
“Ah.”
“They said they’d share the paper that’s about to be published by email.”
“Oh, so it’s a paper Yeonghun is involved in?”
“No. That’s for later. I don’t think anything’s been finalized yet.”
Everyone looked a little disappointed.
But soon they were busy searching for where and how our product was being mentioned.
“This is great, but the paper itself probably won’t be turned into a promotional piece.”
“Later, when we make marketing material to show off our technology, we can write one line like, ‘It was introduced at such a prestigious conference as well!’”
“Ah. We were already planning a brochure that briefly introduces our technology. We should use it there.”
Brother Seonghun and I immediately started discussing how to spin it from a marketing perspective.
But the expressions on Jeong Hyeonwoo and Seo Jeongwon’s faces were odd.
“Why?”
“You make it look cool.”
“What do I?”
“Doing something that goes outward from the company, something like public-facing work.”
From their expressions and tone, they didn’t sound sarcastic.
They seemed to be complimenting it sincerely.
“We’re not the ones building the product itself, so why does that look so cool?”
“Doing something outside the desk for the product looks cool.”
“That must be why developers end up wearing gray and black all the time. Like they’re meant to live in the shadows.”
“They should become a null being.”
After making self-deprecating jokes, the developers quickly went back to their work.
But hearing that, I couldn’t continue the conversation right away.
It wasn’t exactly that they sounded disappointed, but it did feel like they were saying they wanted more public attention in their own way.
Ah.
At that moment, I remembered a conversation I’d once had with Badugi.
A very simple way to make these elite developers work even harder.
“Then the two of you should do something outside the desk too.”
At my words, they only turned their heads slightly toward me.
Their eyes held no expectation at all, as if they were sure nothing like that would ever happen.
“Join a programming competition.”
Only then did they turn fully toward me.
“A programming competition?”
“Something like ICPC?”
“That starts in late fall, though. Has Google Code Jam already ended?”
They suddenly looked excited.
Both of them had wanted to enter all sorts of competitions before, but I remembered we hadn’t been able to support them because the company kept needing them for urgent work.
“Hahaha. Sounds like you’d rather compete than just build company products!”
Jae-yoon, who had come in to work from the club room because it was closer to home, teased them with complete innocence.
Then the two of them changed expressions as if they had just heard the most obvious thing in the world.
“Competitions are fun because you get to win. That’s different.”
“Of course competitions are more fun.”
Jae-yoon looked flustered at that answer.
It seemed she was encountering their personalities for the first time.
“Both of them like setting records or competing head-to-head. That’s why they also work out a lot compared to other developers.”
“Add that they’re good at games too.”
“That doesn’t sound like a compliment.”
“What could be a better compliment than saying someone’s good at games?”
Seo Jeongwon and Jeong Hyeonwoo were similar people.
It was strange they weren’t siblings, because they clicked so well and their working styles were alike.
They were all-rounders who didn’t need strict divisions between front end and back end.
They didn’t want to be first at everything, but they did want to try everything.
Among developers, that wasn’t a common temperament, and yet our company somehow had two of them.
“Wouldn’t something like SRM or Codeforces be manageable? It seems like it would just take a little preparation.”
“You mean we can prepare during work hours?”
“Yes.”
At my answer, the two of them immediately high-fived.
They looked genuinely thrilled.
“Then please win something plausible and give TA Medical one more marketing point.”
At my offhand remark, Jae-yoon and Brother Seonghun, who were standing nearby, clapped.
Seo Jeongwon and Jeong Hyeonwoo went back to tapping at their laptops with happy expressions.
“We should probably come up with a strategy together. Is it all right if we go to the meeting room?”
“Yes, of course.”
It seemed they wanted to split up the roles for which competitions to apply to and when.
So I sent them off with encouragement, and they left the club room with their laptops.
“What did those two just say?”
“They said they were going to enter programming competitions.”
“They were all in English names. Are they international contests?”
“Yes. They can be done online.”
Jae-yoon stared after them for a while, looking amused by how excited the two of them had become, then laughed.
“I’ve heard people who enjoy it are impossible to beat.”
“They’re good at it and they actually enjoy it, so they’ll bring back some kind of result one way or another. We just have to let them loose.”
Jae-yoon and Brother Seonghun both nodded.
“Do those competitions come up often?”
“Some happen more than once a week, some every two weeks, some only once a year. They’re all over the place.”
“Oh. Then we might hear news that they’ve accomplished something within a month?”
“That would be nice.”
Honestly, I didn’t think the two of them would suddenly take first place somewhere right away.
No matter how good they were, winning first in a national competition was difficult, so that couldn’t be helped.
But right now, TA Medical wasn’t in a position where the developers had enough steady work to sink their teeth into.
There just wasn’t that much going on.
At this stage, the only tasks available were the kind I could handle more or less by myself.
“But even if they don’t pull anything off, that’s fine.”
So I was just going to let them enjoy themselves.
They’d grow on their own in the process, I figured.
Like a gamer leaving auto-hunt on.
“If the two of you want to do more self-development or want to work on something public-facing, just let me know.”
At my words, they both shook their heads and smiled.
It meant they were already struggling just to fully master their current jobs.
Then for now, let’s wait and see what results they bring back, while each of us keeps doing our own work.
◇◇◇◆◇◇◇
In truth, Kim Siwon didn’t have to wait long to see the results.
The two were far more strategic than he had expected.
“Let’s register as soon as possible.”
“Yeah. How should we practice between ourselves?”
“Let’s practice with old contest problems, and challenge each other’s code.”
“Right.”
The two of them signed up in the meeting room for every major competition that was open for registration.
After that, they immediately set up their own mock contests.
Since there wasn’t much work and it was hard to produce results, they figured they might as well produce them through competitions.
“Within a month, one of us has to take first place in something, right?”
“Obviously. Otherwise we’re the only ones whose pride doesn’t survive.”
Their preparation was intense.
After their first competition, which had been handled somewhat half-heartedly, even harsher practice followed.
“By whatever means necessary, I’m taking first place.”
“I’m going to make sure some overseas community posts about Korean competitors show up, seriously.”
The training that was practically the same as overtime continued every day.
Whether it was a weekday or the weekend, the two of them never stopped training.
They put more heart into the competitions than into their school assignments.
“This level of performance is more than good enough.”
“Seriously, nobody in Korea can do this much. Hey. Nice work~”
Even when everyone praised them, they were not satisfied.
They cut out the alcohol they loved so much and, unless they were in class, spent all their time preparing for competitions.
And then, once that mad period had passed the one-month mark a little...
“Wow. We did it.”
The two of them each took first place in one competition.
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