Graduation Gifts and CERN's Call
Yoo Jae-won and his parents took time to meet separately with the principal. ID Technology had grown so rapidly thanks to the principal's full support, and the debt of gratitude was immense. His parents prepared a gift of carefully brewed red ginseng essence, wishing the principal a long and healthy life. Yoo Jae-won brought something that would not be consumed but remembered for years to come: a stock certificate meticulously crafted from Swarovski crystal. It was not hand-engraved but laser-etched to match the exact form of a real share certificate. At first the principal felt burdened by what appeared to be a commemorative plaque, but he gladly accepted the crystal certificate. Of course, he had no idea that this seemingly decorative certificate was in fact a genuine share with real legal effect. In issuing shares, the material mattered little. As long as the share register recorded the issuance number and the shareholder's name, and the stamp tax had been paid, it was a valid share.
"The only advice I have for Jae-won is this: no matter how high you rise, never become arrogant."
Even after receiving the gifts, the principal looked out for Yoo Jae-won until the very end.
"Yes, sir."
It was a commonplace piece of advice, yet it was the kind of truth that becomes the very blood and flesh of one's life.
"And wherever you go, never lose heart. We will always be behind you, cheering you on. If you ever face difficulties, don't hesitate to ask for help."
"Yes, sir!"
From his final words of encouragement to his parting support, the principal remained steadfast. With the graduation ceremony concluded, everyone—friends and their parents alike—went out together for jajangmyeon at Ganghuije, the Chinese restaurant where they gathered whenever ID Technology held events. The graduation marked the end of Yoo Jae-won's time at Deokjin Elementary School. A short spring break followed before middle school began. Yet Yoo Jae-won had no time to rest. He needed to develop various software programs in preparation for the 1990 business, so during the break he rarely left the house. On top of that, he had to prepare for the rollout of KETEL and ISDN services in Korea. His hands were already full.
Today, too, he preferred to stay in and focus on his work. The project currently occupying his attention was neither Android OS nor ID Office, but a very specialized program: a browser. Not an internet browser, of course—WWW would not be announced for some time yet. The browser Yoo Jae-won was building was intended for the next-generation PC communication service that would completely overhaul the KETEL service he had acquired. PC communication services at the time were dominated by text-based VT mode. Until now, users typically connected through terminal programs that could display Hangul. Yoo Jae-won wanted to take just one step further: the introduction of hypertext capable of attaching multimedia such as images and audio.
Rows of plain text alone quickly grew dull. That was why he was developing a hypertext browser that could embed images in the body text, attach short audio clips or music, and allow users to view and listen simultaneously. He was not creating an entirely new format; he was borrowing the tag functionality from HTML. One of HTML's strengths was that memorizing just a few tags allowed users to freely adjust text size, add underlines, or even create moving text without any separate editor. Applied to the VT mode of PC communication, it would enable rich, colorful screens with little difficulty. For example, newspaper articles complete with tables and illustrations could be reproduced exactly as they appeared in print within the PC communication service.
KETEL already had a bulletin board where newspaper articles were posted, but updates were slow and the lack of tables or images meant users could not read proper articles. Yoo Jae-won planned to introduce a real-time news service on the new PC communication platform, using HTML to make it easily accessible. He intended to scroll breaking news headlines like subtitles along the bottom of the PC communication screen; users could click any headline that caught their eye and open the article instantly. To someone from the twenty-first century this was basic, but in 1990 it would feel like cutting-edge high technology. He had been working diligently to launch as soon as possible when he had to pause.
"It looks like it's time. Let's head out. Jae-won, stop working on the computer too."
When his father stood up, Yoo Jae-won saved his work and shut down the computer, then followed him outside.
"Oh, just a moment, please."
His mother apparently needed a little more time. Today was the day the entire family was going out together—not for any special family event, but because it was the day of the middle school orientation. Yoo Jae-won had said he could go alone, but his parents felt differently. They already sent him off to faraway places like America by himself often enough; at the very least, they wanted to accompany him for the middle school entrance procedures.
"The sun's going to set! Hurry up and come out!"
After Yoo Bong-man had been waiting in the car for ten minutes with no sign of Kim Mal-sook, he shouted loudly. Another three minutes passed before she finally emerged. The family climbed into the Grandeur and set off for Yeoju Middle School.
"There are a lot of people."
The playground was packed with children Yoo Jae-won's age. This year, more than four hundred students were entering Yeoju Middle School. As a result, the school was expanding from eight classes to nine, creating overcrowded classrooms of forty-six to forty-eight students each. The classrooms themselves were not getting any larger, so the students would have to live packed in like bean sprouts in a tray.
"Which class is Jae-won in?"
A temporary class assignment chart had been posted at the school entrance—a large sheet of paper covered with hundreds of names. Yoo Jae-won's name was easy to find.
"It's right here. First-year, Class 1, number one."
Yoo Jae-won was listed at the very top. Three ones in a row—why did it feel so contrived? Jumin and Yeong-sik were both in Class 3. Signs for Classes 1 through 9 had been set up at intervals across the playground, and students who had already checked their assignments were gathering in front of them. As Yoo Jae-won headed over to line up, someone spoke to him first.
"Are you Jae-won's parents, by any chance?"
A middle-aged man who had been standing with his hands behind his back in front of the assignment chart approached Yoo Bong-man.
"Yes, that's right."
Yoo Bong-man answered with a hint of caution.
"Oh, wonderful! It's a pleasure to meet you. I'm Kwon Eun-seok, the temporary homeroom teacher for first-year Class 1."
"Ah! So you're Jae-won's homeroom teacher. It's nice to meet you. I'm Yoo Bong-man, Jae-won's father. This is my wife."
Upon hearing that he was the homeroom teacher, Yoo Jae-won's parents immediately bowed their heads. Kwon Eun-seok returned the greeting, though not as deeply as Yoo Bong-man. Yoo Jae-won felt something was slightly off but offered his own greeting anyway. On orientation day it was normal to meet the teacher, receive class assignments, and hear various instructions about the start of school. Usually, however, the teachers stayed near the signs rather than coming all the way to the school gate.
"You're curious about Jae-won's classroom, aren't you? I'll show you the way."
What was this? It felt like he was overdoing it. Why did Kwon Eun-seok, the homeroom teacher, give off the vibe of a salesman? Yoo Jae-won searched his memory but could recall nothing about anyone named Kwon Eun-seok. In his previous life he had attended a completely different middle school, so his knowledge of Yeoju Middle School was extremely limited.
"Would you like to come along too, Jae-won?"
"Huh? Oh, I think the assembly time is almost here. I should probably go over there."
"Really? All right. We'll see you later, then."
Kwon Eun-seok led Yoo Jae-won's parents away. Yoo Jae-won watched them for a moment, shook his head, and headed toward where the other students were gathering. Unlike elementary school, the feeling from the very beginning was not good. Then again, compared to everything he had experienced so far, the principal and some of the teachers at Deokjin Elementary School had been truly exceptional. Meeting even one such dedicated educator was probably the kind of luck that came only a handful of times in a lifetime.
"What kind of school is this?"
Yoo Jae-won grumbled again as he walked toward the classroom.
"Exactly! Holding an exam on orientation day is cheating!"
Although separated from Jumin and Yeong-sik, he was not the only Deokjin Elementary alumnus present. While they were not particularly close, they at least had some familiarity, unlike the students he was meeting for the first time. As they chatted, they made their way to the first-year Class 1 classroom. From their conversation it was clear that the school had announced there would be a placement test on orientation day. That was why the students who had spent winter and spring breaks playing were now wearing grim expressions. The test, they had been told, was for class placement. In other words, the school had openly notified everyone that ability grouping would begin from the first semester of first year.
"Should I just guess on everything?"
"Want to?"
"Huh? What did you say?"
"Maybe I should just guess too?"
When Yoo Jae-won played along with the offhand remark, the boy looked far more surprised than expected. He knew full well that while he himself was not particularly fond of studying, Yoo Jae-won was different.
"Even if you guess, you should still take it properly. The honor of Deokjin rests on your shoulders!"
"What, are we filming a movie? That's over the top."
Yoo Jae-won had not meant it seriously. He simply disliked the school's practice of ranking students from the very first day of orientation.
"Then promise me you'll do your best on the test. After all, the best thing about exams is doing well on them."
"Ugh, if you're going to put it that way, I guess I have no choice. I'll do my best."
Soon the teacher entered. It was Kwon Eun-seok, the man they had seen at the entrance. Kwon Eun-seok stepped up to the teacher's desk, surveyed the classroom, exchanged glances with Yoo Jae-won sitting in the corner, and then spoke.
"Quiet! Do you think this is a five-day market? This is Yeoju Middle School. Especially our school, which has a reputation for a good study atmosphere. We deal strictly with anything that disrupts that atmosphere, so be careful. This is the only time I'll let it slide."
Kwon Eun-seok was the complete opposite of the man he had shown himself to be in front of Yoo Jae-won's parents. Tapping the desk with a pointer like a cane, he made the students answer loudly, clearly intimidated.
"You've probably heard about the test from outside. We'll use your performance to gauge your level and adjust the pace and difficulty of lessons, so do your best. If you bomb the test, you'll be tarnishing the name of the elementary school you graduated from, so answer carefully. And if you cheat, you'll get zero—and on top of that, you'll get such a beating that you'll never even think of cheating again, so don't even try."
There were two test sheets: one for Korean and one for arithmetic. On the back of the Korean sheet, however, English questions appeared, and the arithmetic sheet contained problems that required prior learning. Nothing about it sat well with him.
After orientation, Yoo Jae-won returned home in a foul mood. Everything was the exact opposite of the school life he had imagined. On top of that, he found Kwon Eun-seok strangely unappealing. The one silver lining was that he would not have to go to school until the entrance ceremony on March 2. If the school's behavior continued to displease him, he was seriously considering fast-tracking a transfer abroad.
Fortunately, good news arrived the very next day—two pieces of it, in fact—and his spirits lifted. The biggest news was that the new mainframe he had ordered from IBM at the beginning of the year had finally arrived in Korea. Korean IBM said they would clear customs and deliver it straight to the Rodeo office for installation. The second piece of news came in the form of a phone call from an outside organization asking if he would like to work on a project together. The organization and the person were ones even Yoo Jae-won had never anticipated. The organization's name was CERN—the European Organization for Nuclear Research—and the caller was Tim Berners-Lee.