Lecture at the Alma Mater
JH Research.
I opened the approval folder lying on the desk in the CEO’s office. There wasn’t just one or two items waiting for my signature.
“I thought CEOs just loafed around, but there’s a ton to do.”
In the dramas I’d seen, company chairmen propped their feet on the desk and played. I’d pictured something like that. Reality was different. Approval reports kept stacking up on the CEO’s desk. Documents demanding my confirmation arrived without end.
“I can’t just tell them to handle it themselves.”
Every single one was a major matter waiting on my decision.
1. Commercial shoot.
2. Assorted donation requests.
3. University lectures.
4. LPU sales requests.
5. HBM sales requests.
6. Data-center usage requests.
…
There were all sorts of requests.
“Commercial shoot?”
Me? It was a little jarring. I wasn’t even a celebrity—why would they want me as a model? I set that one aside for now.
Next item.
“Donations, huh…”
For a company, donations weren’t pure losses. Firms that dealt directly with consumers gained an image boost, and the donated amounts could be treated as expenses that reduced taxes. The moment I started making money through auctions, the first thing I studied was taxes.
“For universities, fifty percent can supposedly be expensed.”
Donation deductions had caps, yet even a bold, large sum could be treated as spread over ten years. So roughly half usually ended up as a deductible expense.
Next came university lectures. They wanted me to come speak on campus.
Hmm. Reading the invitation brought back a little of my college days.
“Even my alma mater reached out?”
Among the various lecture requests was my own school. Invitations from universities that had nothing to do with me left me cold, but my alma mater felt different.
My alma mater was Peninsula University—an In-Seoul school right around the cutoff line. The campus was compact and pretty, and I’d spent some genuinely happy months there early in freshman year. Of course, I hadn’t set foot on campus since the accident.
“I wonder how everyone’s doing.”
In truth I’d been the one who cut contact with my classmates first. After the crash, recovery, looking after Mom, and simply staying fed had left no room for anything else. I hadn’t wanted pity either. I could already picture the looks I’d get showing up in this body, and I hadn’t wanted those looks at all.
But maybe because I finally had some breathing room, curiosity stirred. About the campus, the department lounge, the club, my classmates.
I pressed the intercom.
Beep.
Secretary Hwang answered.
“Yes, CEO.”
“There’s a lecture request that came in. Peninsula University is my alma mater. Set a date for that one.”
“Understood.”
Peninsula University.
I walked the campus for the first time in years. A gentle breeze swept across the broad lawn. Students chatted in twos and threes. Couples teased each other playfully. Others hurried past with thick stacks of books in their arms. The old brick buildings glowed warm in the sunlight. Students sat clustered on benches, sipping coffee and talking—the whole scene peaceful.
Yeah. Once upon a time I’d been that carefree too.
Squeak.
I rolled the wheelchair wheels. Familiar paths. Familiar buildings. I wondered why it had taken me so long to come back.
The place I finally stopped was the engineering department lounge. When I opened the door, a familiar sight greeted me. The smell of coffee, dust, and old wire insulation mixed in the air.
“Heh. This place hasn’t changed even after years.”
A guitar lay sprawled across the table, two strings already snapped. On the headstock someone had written Legend of Electrical Engineering Class of ’12. In the corner of a desk sat a soldering iron, scraps of solder, and chip packaging—exactly what you’d expect from an engineering major. A crooked sticky note beside them declared, “Final Project Absolute Success!”
I pushed the wheelchair slowly deeper inside. Graffiti still covered the walls.
Love is a nonlinear reaction.
Therefore mathematically unprovable.
It never existed. From the beginning it was never there.
You too?
Yeah, me too.
“Pfft.”
Like any engineering department, ours was more than ninety-five percent male. The thrashing of early-twenties guys was still funny.
“Yeah. This was our department, all right.”
It felt like walking into a museum where time had stopped.
Just then someone entered the lounge and our eyes met. A familiar face. He called my name.
“Huh? You… Jiho?”
Four years, yet his old face was still clear.
“Minsik?”
“Dude, it really is Jiho. Long time no see.”
Minsik smiled brightly—until his gaze settled on my wheelchair and the smile froze.
“…Jiho, your legs… that…”
Seeing someone not merely sitting in a wheelchair but missing everything below the knees usually produced this reaction. Shaken eyes. Not knowing whether to comfort, grieve, or encourage—stuck without words. A common reaction.
“I was in a traffic accident freshman year. Pretty long time ago now.”
Minsik stared at me in silence, then gave a small nod.
“Ah… I see.”
In the past that kind of reaction had been hard enough that I simply never came. Now it was all right.
Minsik carefully continued.
“Did you re-enroll?”
I shook my head.
“No. Just… stopped by for a bit. Had business and ended up thinking about the old days.”
Minsik smiled a little bitterly.
“Got it. Still, it’s good to see you again. We drank a ton freshman year.”
“Haha… yeah, we did.”
I asked, “How’ve you been?”
Minsik hesitated a second, then grinned.
“I’m a senior now.”
“Oh, upperclassman, huh?”
He shrugged with a laugh.
“Well, once you’re a senior you’re basically in job-prep mode.”
“I see. You’re working hard too.”
“Heh. You know it. Oh—over in the big lecture hall some company is giving a talk. JH, I think? Ever heard of them?”
“Yeah. Of course.”
“Really? I’m heading over later. You going too?”
“Yeah. I’ll be there.”
“Cool. Then maybe I’ll see you again. I’ve got another thing first so I’ll be late. If we miss each other, take care anyway.”
“Yeah. You too.”
The large lecture hall.
A great many students had come to hear JH’s talk. Banners hung at the entrance and throughout the building.
Invited Lecture by JH CEO and Alumni Kim Jiho
The Semiconductor of Dreams—Our Alumnus Made It Happen
JH Research CEO Kim Jiho Leads the World with Semiconductors
A few students chatted among themselves.
“Hey, you know JH?”
“Obviously. The company that blew up with semiconductors, right?”
“Their CEO’s coming to lecture today—he’s an alumnus of ours.”
“For real?”
“Yeah, engineering alum, I heard.”
“What major?”
“He left after freshman year so no real major. Freshman year’s free major anyway.”
“Huh. Figures the big ones all drop out. Microsoft’s Bill dropped out of Harvard, Metaverse’s Joke dropped out of Harvard. Guess you have to drop out to become a big-tech boss. Man, now I want to drop out too.”
“If you drop out your life’s over.”
“Hey, a guy can dream.”
“You just don’t want to study.”
“That obvious?”
“Yeah, really.”
The host’s voice rang out.
“In a moment, the JH lecture will begin.”
The lights in the large hall dimmed slightly. A huge monitor stood at the back of the stage; in the center sat a desk with something small resting on it. No one walked onto the stage.
Whirr.
Something in the middle of the stage moved.
Whirr.
It was a small robot with a camera mounted on it. The robot’s head swiveled, looking left and right across the audience. Matching its movements, the monitor behind the stage showed the crowd.
People realized the thing on stage was a camera robot filming them. Then a voice rolled through the hall.
“Hello? I am AI.”
“Ooooh.”
The audience murmured in surprise at the voice introducing itself as AI.
“I am looking at all of you.”
The casual speech was a little awkward, yet impressive enough. Students’ faces appeared one after another on the big screen.
Whirr.
The camera zoomed in on one female student. Startled by the sudden close-up, she covered her mouth with her hand.
“Covering mouth.”
Wide eyes, phones raised, faces holding their breath.
“Pretty.”
“Hahaha!”
“Whooo!”
The crowd cheered; the girl unexpectedly praised by the AI flushed scarlet.
“Face is red.”
“Red means apple.”
The hall burst into laughter.
“Hahaha!”
Whirr.
The camera panned wide again, then zoomed in on a male student. He too flinched at the close-up, yet didn’t hide his face. The audience waited to hear what the AI would say about him. Even the guy himself looked expectant.
After a brief pause the AI spoke.
“Sorry.”
“Pffft—hahaha!”
The shot zoomed back out to take in the whole crowd. Then the AI introduced itself.
“I was born in data center JH.”
“You students.”
“This is university.”
“School CEO used to attend.”
“Place CEO first understood the world.”
“I was made by LPU and HBM.”
“Raised by Nano World.”
“Then I introduce.”
“Constellation of the Nano People.”
“JH CEO, Kim Jiho.”
I listened to the AI’s introduction from backstage. The plan was for me to appear after this surprise AI opener. The AI spoke surprisingly well. Recognition complete, comprehension better than half. Still—Constellation of the Nano People? No one else would understand the phrase, but I caught the meaning perfectly. I felt a private twinge of embarrassment.
The door in front of me slowly opened. The stage manager pointed toward the lights.
“You may go on now, CEO.”
I pushed hard on the handrims.
Rumble-rumble.
I rolled to the center of the stage. The lights settled on me. I locked the wheelchair brakes. The hall was utterly quiet. I took the microphone, smiled a little awkwardly, and spoke.
“Hello. I’m Kim Jiho, CEO of JH. As the AI said, there are a lot of pretty people here… and a few I’m sorry about, so I’m a little nervous.”
Soft laughter rippled through the seats. A few students shouted.
“You’re handsome!”
That warmth loosened something in my chest.
“Thank you. It feels good to be back at my alma mater. Surprised by the wheelchair? It was freshman year in engineering. I was in a traffic accident then… and ended up like this.”
A brief silence fell.
“Before coming here I stopped by the department lounge and ran into a classmate. He said he finished the military and re-enrolled—now a senior. I thought, if the accident hadn’t happened, maybe I’d be living that life too.”
I looked around the audience.
“For a while… I was pretty depressed. Honestly I thought the world was over. But you know what?”
I smiled quietly.
“Somehow I ended up building a company even with this body—and competing with global firms.”
Someone began to clap softly. Applause spread through the entire lecture hall. I waited for it to settle, then continued.
“In the United States there’s something called the Semiconductor Triangle. NVIDIA makes the chips, Big Tech buys them to build data centers, and those data centers raise AI.”
The hall stayed quiet, listening.
“It’s basically an infinite flywheel. Money circulates among them and they grow almost without limit. Enormous capital from the surroundings gets sucked in.”
Every eye was fixed on me.
“So what do I do with this body? At JH we make semiconductors, build data centers, and raise AI. In short, everything the American Semiconductor Triangle does—JH does alone.”
A wave of murmurs rose from the seats.
“Whoa…!”
“He really does all of it…?”
“That’s why the AI came out first…”
I shrugged.
“When I accepted this lecture I thought about what to talk about—semiconductors, data centers, or AI. Then I realized something more important than words. I’m coming back as a reasonably successful alumnus; showing up empty-handed felt wrong. Dean?”
I turned toward the side of the stage. The lights swung over; the dean climbed up looking startled. I held out a prepared envelope.
“To the Peninsula University Scholarship Foundation… I will donate one hundred billion won.”
For a heartbeat the hall froze—then erupted.
“What? A hundred billion…?”
“Wooooooah!”
“Holy crap…!”
“Senior! We love you!”
At that same moment, Minsik—who had met Jiho earlier in the lounge—arrived at the large lecture hall. The banner right in front of him read:
Invited Lecture by JH CEO and Alumni Kim Jiho
“So the JH CEO is our alumnus.”
The name on the banner was Kim Jiho, yet Minsik never connected it to the classmate he’d just seen. He slipped into the packed hall. Inside, cheers and applause were already exploding.
“CEO! We love you!”
“Thank you for the hundred-billion donation!”
Under the lights, someone in a wheelchair and someone in a suit were shaking hands. Minsik found a friend and asked,
“Hey, hey—what’s going on? What’s this hundred billion?”
His friend answered with shining eyes.
“Yeah. The JH CEO is donating a hundred billion won for scholarships. Insane, right?”
“Whoa, so that guy is the JH CEO?”
“Yup.”
Looking up at the stage, Minsik recognized the person in the wheelchair. It was the classmate he’d met in the lounge just a little while ago.
“Oh, okay. Dude, the guy in the wheelchair is my classmate.”
“What?”
“The one in the wheelchair is my classmate. Must’ve gone up to receive a scholarship. Makes sense—scholarships should go more to people with disabilities.”
His friend stared at him in disbelief.
“What are you talking about? It’s the opposite. The dean’s holding a paper that says a hundred billion and doing a victory dance like a sea anemone. We’re the ones receiving it.”
“What?”
“I’m saying the guy in the wheelchair is our alumnus—JH’s CEO, Kim Jiho.”
Minsik stared blankly at the stage. The banner above it.
Invited Lecture by JH CEO and Alumni Kim Jiho
Under the lights, his classmate Kim Jiho was smiling.
A single sound slipped from Minsik’s lips.
“…Ah.”