We're Going Global from the Start!
Today was my first day of university. Thanks to somehow managing to perfectly schedule my classes, I'd secured both lunch hour and a free period on Fridays. My timetable was flawless. The very first class was a major course. The classroom door on the fourth floor, room 4, with its plaque reading Computer Lab stood right in front of me.
Wait, why did it have to be room 404? It felt like I shouldn't do any backend work in here. It practically screamed that errors were going to pop up. The moment I stepped into the lecture hall, countless eyes poured over me. I had suspected it, but there wasn't a single girl in the entire room. Come on, I figured there'd be at least one or two.
I carefully took my seat, booted up the computer with practiced ease, and logged into Mytel... or almost did. I stopped myself just in time. Surely no one here had seen anyone typing commands before. This was exactly why hanging out on comms services was dangerous.
People were either staring holes through me or whispering among themselves. Of course, in the engineering department of the 90s—especially in computer engineering—if a girl who looked like she belonged on TV walked in, this kind of reaction was inevitable. A strange sense of satisfaction welled up inside me... Was this too perverted?
A little time passed and right on the dot, the professor strode in like clockwork and began the orientation. Since he was also the department head, it doubled as the department orientation. The content wasn't anything special. By the standards of this era it wasn't bad, but for someone who'd come from thirty years in the future, most of it was already familiar, so it didn't really hit home.
So boring... The words kept trying to slip out of my mouth, but I desperately held them back. If I caused an incident here, there was a very real chance I'd completely ruin my entire school life... Ah, my eyes are closing.
The moment I closed my eyes, I thought I'd opened them again, but everyone had completely vanished. Well, not everyone. The professor was still there at the front, glaring at me with fierce eyes.
He jerked his hand, motioning for me to come over. Shit, I'm screwed. With the mindset of someone climbing into a coffin, I walked forward. Shitshitshitshit whatdoIdo whatdoIdo whatdoIdo whatdoIdo—
"Was it that boring?"
His tone was kind. But I wasn't falling for it. When a professor spoke like this, it usually meant he'd reached a state of enlightenment. If I provoked him even a little here, my school life would be over.
"I'm not trying to scold you. Normally, when students listen to my orientation, their eyes light up at this new invention called the computer."
Huh...? Was he really not angry?
"Looking at your eyes, they're not the eyes of a student. They're the weary, jaded eyes of someone who's already seasoned. That's not an expression a student should have."
What the hell, how did you know? So those kinds of eyes really existed?
"Of course, falling asleep from the very first orientation is unforgivable. I put in so much effort to tailor my lectures to the students, tsk tsk."
So you are mad. You're already furious.
"Anyway, have you been using computers quite frequently already?"
Of course I have, you bastard. I obviously couldn't say that out loud. Wow, so physiognomy or whatever was actually real? He could tell just by looking? It seemed like he'd already figured it out, so I might as well be honest.
"...Yes."
The professor looked at me with surprised eyes for a moment. Hey, why are you surprised after asking that? Don't tell me you were testing me too?
"Well then, have you made anything already?"
"Yes. I made some games back in high school."
At the word "games," the professor frowned. Yeah, that was the normal reaction in this era. The people on Mytel who worshipped me constantly were the weird ones.
"Did you happen to be active on Mytel?"
This time his tone carried a hint of could it be...?
"Ah, yes."
No matter how I looked at it, he already knew exactly who I was. But this felt like my entire comms activity was being exposed, which was a bit uncomfortable.
"I don't use Mytel much myself. People my age tend to use Manrian more. I've heard stories about some rude, hot-blooded kids making and distributing games on Mytel, but I never imagined one of them would be my student."
What was this? It felt like my favorability had broken through into the negatives. Was I screwed?
"I've tried it myself, but... the only thing I liked was the code. The code was incredibly clean and nearly perfect. That much, I can acknowledge."
Professor, please stop playing with my heart like that. It's seriously making my legs weak.
"To be completely honest, with that level of skill, you'd only be satisfied in your third year of university. To be even more honest, I'd like to take you on as a teaching assistant. People's hearts can be reformatted and reborn, after all."
Is the graduate student route popping up right now??????? Please, anything but being a slave, Professor. Also, reformatting hearts? What are you even saying?
Because he was a professor, the image of a mad scientist that was common in people's minds got superimposed over him in my head.
"Ahem. Of course, I have no intention of using a freshman as a TA."
Ah, it must have shown on my face.
"In any case, while it's true you've essentially already completed the equivalent of a sophomore's coursework, you still need to properly attend classes. That's a matter of respect toward others and your professors."
That was true. Who would like it if someone was passionately lecturing right in front of them while they slept through it?
"Understood. Thank you for the guidance."
"No, it's nothing that serious. Just make sure to pay attention in class from now on."
The professor patted my shoulder with a much more satisfied expression than before and sent me out. Phew. It didn't seem like I'd completely ruined things after all. What an amazing first class. Having a meeting with the professor on the very first day.
And so, my first university lecture ended. Or rather, it had ended a while ago. Maybe I should say my first faculty meeting was over.
After that, nothing particularly eventful happened. Every time I felt sleepy, the department head's words floated through my mind and forced my eyes open, preventing another major incident like last time. A week passed like that, and the club recruitment period arrived—the flower of university life.
I naturally planned to join the computer engineering department's official club, but according to Kim Jeong-jun, it would be better if I didn't. When I asked why, he said the hierarchy was intense, the discipline was strict, activities were stagnant, their direction didn't match ours, and because of the female students there, the one female member they had ended up leaving. Most of all, the faculty advisor was extremely negative about games.
In the end, I gave up on the department club. While I was wondering where I should join to make games... did I really need to join an existing one? That's right. If there wasn't a suitable place, couldn't I just create one? This was basically an academy story cliché anyway. Since universities were a type of academy, using this trope should be fine, right?
Whoa! Club problem solved!
"Therefore! Let's ditch the department club and create a brand new one!"
"..."
Huh? Kim Jeong-jun's expression looked strange!
"What's wrong?"
"That's the dumbest fucking idea I've ever heard."
"Let's do it right now."
Yeah, how could I not go through with it?
Establishing the club proceeded faster than expected. Kim Jeong-jun gathered members from the Mytel programming club he knew on campus, and for the one person still missing, he kidnapped someone from the industrial design department through his connections. Having ten coding slaves was great, but without someone for UI and in-game graphics, everything would collapse... No matter how perfectly the games I planned to make were stored in my head, turning them into actual graphics was an incredibly difficult task.
The amazing illustrations that popped into my mind when I saw pictures were completely different from the disastrous results my hands produced. This was from personal experience. My hands absolutely refused to move the way my brain wanted them to.
"So... you want to create a new central club with a somewhat overlapping theme because you wish to pursue a different direction from the existing department club?"
"Yes. We believe we need a freer, more horizontal environment and atmosphere than the department club... Anyway, there are many parts that don't align with what we're thinking."
"The reason is acceptable. You may operate as a provisional club for at least one year, and after submitting your results for review by the Central Club Committee, you can be officially registered. Club name: KIN... President: Kim Jeong-jun... Paperwork is complete. Provisional registration screening passed. You may leave now."
"Yes! Thank you for your hard work!"
The club name was KIN. It stood for KUST Internet Nation... but that was actually a reverse acronym. It was just a wordplay joke you could read sideways. Things like this needed to have some humor, after all.
Now that club registration was finished, what was next?
"Hmm... making games?"
Sorry to Kim Jeong-jun, but that was the wrong answer.
"Huh? Wasn't that why we made a separate club?"
"To become an official club, we need to pass the committee review. If we submit a game as our 'result,' it'll definitely get rejected. In the worst case, the club could be forcibly disbanded."
"Yeah, that makes sense."
"Then what kind of activities are we going to do? We all came here just to make games."
Everyone's questions grew louder. But I'd already made a roadmap during winter break.
"First, let's create one big output for the review, then while pretending to slack off, we'll focus on game development. Usually, if you have one solid output like that, you can use it as an excuse no matter what else you do."
"So what is it?"
"...Does anyone here know English pretty well?"
We're going global from the very beginning!