Chapter 81: The Beginning of the Portal Site Business ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠Division

“The spread of computers will continue accelerating until eventually every household has one. At the same time, the internet will also become connected to every computer.”

The speaker was an Indian man who looked to be in his mid-twenties. He was not very tall and had a slightly chubby build, but what stood out most were his large eyes, clear and bright as though they were shining.

And the way he spoke was not Indian-accented English but American English. He seemed to be a second- or third-generation immigrant.

He spoke about the internet’s strengths: openness and two-way communication. Eventually, every individual would have their own homepage, and that homepage would become something that represented the individual within the environment known as the Net.

“It won’t just be about enjoying simple content. People will conduct economic activities as well, and fields that are easy to digitize, especially finance-related sectors, will all be handled through the internet.”

He continued by saying that in such an open internet environment, protecting personal information would become extremely important, making security a critically important industry.

“This is not some distant future.”

The technical discussion that followed was difficult for Seongcheol to fully understand, but the earlier points had been impactful enough to remain firmly in his mind.

Anyway, this person is involved with the internet too, and he seems highly capable as a developer, right?

The research topic differed slightly from the direction Seongcheol had been searching for, but finding someone who perfectly matched his tastes had always been unrealistic in the first place.

And thinking about it, they would need to recruit people for ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠the security field sooner or later anyway, so someone with specialized knowledge in that area might actually be even better.

“Hello. I’m Kim Seongcheol from Parallel Soft.”

“Ah, yes. I’m Rajiv Patel.”

After finishing his presentation, Rajiv was slightly startled when an East Asian man suddenly approached him. Since the man introduced himself with a company name first, he did not seem suspicious, and since Rajiv himself had presented under his real name at the seminar, he greeted him openly in return.

“Ah! Parallel Soft is the company that developed TLF, correct?”

Seongcheol was still considering how to steer the conversation when the other man unexpectedly spoke first.

“Yes! That’s right. Have you played it before?”

“Yes! I enjoyed it quite a lot.”

Rajiv liked games quite a bit himself. When he was younger, his parents had forbidden cartoons and games entirely, but after becoming independent, he had thrown himself deeply into them in rebellion, and even now he often used games as a way to relieve stress.

And beyond simple entertainment, TLF had left a particularly strong impression on him.

Its systems and quality far ahead of their time were remarkable enough, but more than that, the intricate systems that evoked the feeling of a virtual world aligned closely with the kind of digital world he envisioned.

In any case, Seongcheol warmly welcomed hearing that Rajiv had enjoyed TLF. After all, persuasion became easier when the other party already held favorable feelings.

“In truth, our company is currently preparing internet-related businesses in addition to games.”

“Oh? Really?”

“Yes. We expect the internet to expand and spread at an incredible rate. We believe there will be at least tens of thousands of websites on the internet by next year.”

“...You do know approximately how many websites currently exist on the internet right now, correct?”

“Yes. We estimate around six hundred.”

At Seongcheol’s answer, Rajiv’s expression suddenly turned serious, and he subtly shifted his body more toward Seongcheol, showing greater concentration.

That was because the prediction closely matched his own expectations.

“The internet certainly has the potential for explosive growth.”

The two talked for some time about the internet’s future and the influence it could have on human society. Seeing that the conversation flowed smoothly and that the other man seemed interested, Seongcheol decided to properly extend an offer.

“How about we move somewhere else for a moment?”

“Ah... yes. That sounds good!”

Together with Rajiv, Seongcheol moved to the lounge inside the hotel where the seminar had been held.

The lounge was spacious and luxurious.

Seongcheol suddenly recalled the company’s early days, when business meetings had taken place in cafés or in one corner of the development room. In truth, drinking beverages and talking in a lounge did not cost an outrageous amount of money, but compared to back then, the environment and circumstances had changed so much that he became strangely conscious of it.

“We concluded that the first thing truly needed in the internet era would be portal sites and search engines.”

“That might be true.”

Rajiv had also thought that something would be necessary for people to access one another within the massively expanding internet. However, rather than portal sites or search engines, he had been envisioning a system of organized addresses and condensed maps contrasted against the offline world.

He had named this concept “Ground,” though it was still far from fully realized.

But after hearing about portal sites and search engines, although he initially thought the idea seemed overly simple, he gradually began leaning toward the possibility that this might actually be the correct direction.

The simplest and most intuitive things are usually closest to the right answer.

This might not be the ultimate solution, but compared to his own vague and still-unrealized ideas, it was a far more practical and immediate answer for responding to the coming internet era.

“This portal site will become a powerful business, and the profitability it creates will pull massive amounts of real-world capital into the internet, accelerating the information age itself.”

Because Seongcheol viewed Rajiv as more of an academic, he framed the discussion not merely around making money, but also around changing society and driving progress.

Certainly...

Contrary to Seongcheol’s assumptions, Rajiv was not particularly driven by any grand mission to advance civilization, but he still found Seongcheol’s words highly interesting.

After all, profit was the driving force behind everything, and in a capitalist era, the clearest form of profit was money. If the internet proved profitable, then this technology could soar upward like a rocket almost overnight.

Once that thought reached him, he began feeling slightly anxious.

In truth, he had already sensed that the IT industry’s rate of development was becoming abnormal. If he continued focusing solely on research, he felt as though he might fall behind the world itself.

Moreover, he had always held some interest in practical business ventures as well.

“You may have already guessed, but the reason I came looking for you is because I hope you’ll join our company.”

“...”

Seongcheol was not speaking as though he had perfectly read Rajiv’s inner thoughts. However, the buildup he had carefully constructed happened to align perfectly with Rajiv’s usual mindset and inclinations.

“You don’t have to answer immediately. But we plan to begin the project within a month, so I would appreciate it if you could decide as soon as possible.”

“A month?”

“Yes.”

When Rajiv asked with a slightly surprised expression, Seongcheol answered with an inward smile, judging that the man was interested.

“As I mentioned earlier, we believe the internet era is approaching rapidly, and that there is not much time left before its potential explodes.”

“Yes. Understood. I’ll think it over.”

Seeing Rajiv answer with such a serious expression, Seongcheol wondered if he had effectively been rejected. After all, people often spoke like this when politely avoiding a direct refusal.

However, two days later, a phone call arrived at the company.

[Is the offer still valid?]

“Ah! Of course it is!”

[In that case, I’ll join as well.]

“Welcome aboard!”

And so, Parallel Soft’s portal site business division officially began operations. Whether it would remain merely one pioneer among many, become the equivalent of Yahoo, or even turn into Google, no one yet knew.

Insu heard that the portal site division had recruited a PM and an SA, but he did not immediately reveal himself.

He did not believe he could hide forever, but he worried that they might leave after seeing how young he was, so he decided to wait for a while first.

The planning documents have already all been written and handed over anyway.

Unlike the game development team, they would not need to see each other constantly. So his plan was to reveal his identity only after the PM and SA had signed their contracts and progressed far enough into development that leaving would feel wasteful.

It was not exactly deception. Officially, Insu was the game development team leader, while they belonged to an entirely different business division, so there was no obligation for them to know one another immediately.

Still, there would eventually be collaboration involving server management and databases, and game-related businesses and content would inevitably become integrated into the portal site as well, meaning they would eventually meet face-to-face regardless.

Even while the portal site business division was being prepared, the game development department continued working on TLF Online.

The official title had not yet been finalized, but the project itself was currently named TLF Online.

[TLF Online]

That name appeared everywhere, from development materials to schedules posted throughout the development room.

Although the project was still in the planning phase, the concept planning advanced quickly because Insu had already spent a long time thinking about it, and because there were existing foundations in TLF1, TLF2, and MFN.

Many systems were also borrowed from the original works, while additional features were incorporated and refined through earlier brainstorming sessions, allowing the process to conclude relatively quickly.

However, the actual design work—map structures, difficulty balancing, gameplay flow, UI/UX planning, the logic and data flow of each system, and documenting how every detailed feature would function—was not something that could be resolved merely by sketching vague ideas in one’s head. It was real work.

While Parallel Soft was drowning in planning tasks, TLF2’s sales continued rising steadily, attracting more and more gamers.

The moment TLF2 released, Eric Johnson immediately went to a nearby game store, ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠pushed through the crowds, and bought a copy.

He had been a huge fan of TLF1 and had been waiting eagerly ever since information about TLF2 first started appearing. His expectations had been enormous.

And after actually playing it, TLF2 exceeded those expectations.

Everything is genuinely an upgraded version of the first game.

He had already considered TLF1 an ideal game unlike anything he had seen before, but this time Parallel Soft had gone even further.

The increased diversity of characters, the effects, sound design, and all the finer details were impressive enough, but the systems—feeling both as though MFN had been fused into the game and as though they had always been one unified whole from the ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠beginning—along with the newly added mechanics, truly made it feel as though another world existed beyond the monitor.

Especially this multiplayer system!

At first, he had not thought much of it. In fact, he had even disliked the idea somewhat, fearing that the presence of other people would ruin his immersion in the world. Moreover, having used PC communications extensively before, he was also wary of communication fees.

But when his progress became blocked midway through the game, his thoughts changed.

In truth, “blocked” was a slightly inaccurate description. If one slowly experienced the events and enjoyed the various content, progressing naturally was entirely possible. However, because he had deeply explored the previous title, he could already see the shortcut.

If I can just conquer the Rock Kingdom, I can solve leveling, reputation, and expensive materials all at once...

It was a place said to have once been the capital of a powerful kingdom centuries ago before a magician’s curse transformed it overnight into a land filled only with stone. The powerful remnants of magic still lingered there, and because it had once been the kingdom’s capital, the quality of obtainable materials was extremely high.

Its difficulty was correspondingly high as well, but because of the terrain’s many hiding spots, and because the stone-based enemies possessed high durability and attack power at the cost of slow movement and relative vulnerability to magic—and, above all, because their population numbers were fairly low—it was theoretically possible to conquer the area at a comparatively low level if one played skillfully.