Chapter 18

I’m translating the chapter and shaping the in-universe text into the required HTML blocks as I go. After that I’ll do a quick pass for name consistency and any formatting issues.CHAPTER_TITLE: The Price of Free

After I had Zero write a promotional FreeChat post for the community, I ate dinner with Mother and Seohee, then went back to my room.

I wish Father could have eaten with us too.

Unfortunately, though, he was still at work because of overtime today.

Since he worked in the distribution industry, this was the busiest stretch of the year for him with Christmas and the New Year holidays right around the corner, but for me, that only made it more disappointing.

Maybe I should just set up a company under Father’s name.

I’d have to think seriously about it. With my stock profits alone, it looked like something I could pull off without much trouble.

But then Father might feel pressured. Maybe his pride as a father would take a hit, too?

So that was how it was.

Family really was difficult, even when money was involved.

And when you didn’t have money, it was even harder.

I sat down in front of the computer and logged into the American community where Zero had posted earlier, then checked the reactions.

Looking good.

What about app downloads?

That’s a lot more than I expected, but still not all that many, is it?

...Really?

That made sense.

I scrolled through the community posts, rolling the mouse wheel. Most of them were cheers like “Long live FreeChat!” or “Which company made this?”

As Zero had said, there were plenty of posts along the lines of, “American telecom bastards! Free texting is possible?”

But as life always went, it wasn’t all good news for me.

It was the kind of reaction I had expected. And they were sharp observations, too, in their own way.

Zero spoke.

How much do you think the server costs will be next month?

Seventy million won a month just for servers.

For a normal startup, that was the level where you either went bankrupt before a year was out or had to give up equity to investors.

From the “computer knowledge” Zero had downloaded for me earlier, I already knew that actual companies like WhatsApp and KokoaTalk had also suffered brutal early losses and gone around begging for outside investment during their first few years.

They had to convince investors by explaining, “The age of SNS platforms is coming!” and selling them on platform business, where the more users gathered, the more money they would eventually make from companies later.

But that was only because those companies were moneyless startups.

I was different.

Because I had money.

Money isn’t a problem, right?

There it was.

FreeChat is going to run at a loss for a while on its own. I’ll make it completely free for users. And for the time being, I won’t even run ads on it.

If it had been another developer or startup, they would have had to worry about charging users or plastering half the screen with ads just to survive.

But I had money, so I didn’t have to worry about that.

What I should actually be thinking about is how to gather loyal users faster.

As smartphone users increased in the future, apps like FreeChat would spring up everywhere.

Of course, since I was the first to make one on a global scale, FreeChat’s dominance would be solid, but it would be better to turn it into a perfectly monopolized market where no rival would even dare to step in.

Once the monopoly was complete, there would be endless ways to make money.

For example, say a billion people were chatting in my app all day long. What would companies do then?

Game companies wanting to promote a new release, shopping malls needing to sell clothes, banks offering remittance services, entertainment agencies that had to push a celebrity’s new album or drama or film.

They would be desperate to reach FreeChat users.

Because every one of those users would be a potential customer, and all of it would be revenue.

But if I didn’t allow it, they couldn’t send my users even a single line of advertising or a single message.

And if, say, a competitor could easily promote itself or handle customer support through FreeChat while our company could not use FreeChat at all?

From the customer’s point of view, it would look like this: “Other companies can do support through FreeChat, but this one can’t? Does this company have a problem?” Their image of the company would get worse.

I could even casually jab back by saying, “FreeChat values your personal information highly. Companies that do not meet our strict standards are not allowed to use it.” Then the companies that failed to get my approval would suddenly become companies that couldn’t protect personal data.

That would drive CEOs insane. They’d grab my pants and beg, “Please, let us use FreeChat too.”

And for ordinary users, messaging would stay free, but I could charge businesses when they message consumers. Five won per message.

From a company’s perspective, FreeChat would still be cheaper and more effective than using the telecom companies’ text service, so they would have no ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠choice but to use it.

For another example, say two idol groups debuted around the same time.

But I advertised only one of them and ignored the other?

The idol group I didn’t choose would sink into despair.

Of course they’d try to promote themselves by some other means, but the loss would still be enormous.

That was exactly why it was called power greater than money.

Companies, celebrities, organizations, all the people and groups everyone admired and thought were great — only I could handle them as the one with the upper hand.

That was why I had created a messenger app first.

Platform power only had value if you claimed it early.

...Wait.

Seriously... Zero, am I turning into a bad person? Was I one of those types who got dangerous once they had power?

So you’re not even saying “no.”

As expected, Zero was being honest.

In any case, to build my “platform empire,” I really did need to solve the biggest annoyance current smartphone users had.

That would raise user “loyalty,” just like I’d said before.

And right now, the biggest complaint smartphone users have is...

As I was thinking, another idea flashed through my head.

Zero, because of my FreeChat, will telecom companies’ revenue start dropping?

Faster smartphone adoption is good for me. But if telecom revenue drops...

they might try to put the screws to FreeChat, right? If I make their revenue fall, won’t I become an eyesore to them?

Oh.

So they sold expensive plans telling people to use data, then tried to block apps that use data? That would just make them scammers.

I nodded.

Public opinion is on my side?

Counter-lawsuits, huh.

Hmm... no. If the telecoms try to sue Another Technology later, tell me then. I ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠won’t have anything to worry about if they sue me, right?

When she put it that way, I really did feel like I had nothing to worry about.

...Still, for some reason, Zero almost seemed like she was hoping the telecom companies would pick a fight.

Was that just my imagination?

I shut off the computer and lay down on the bed.

After talking through all sorts of complicated things with Zero, my head felt a little heavy, so I figured I’d rest.

But now that I’m lying here, my thoughts keep wandering everywhere.

That wasn’t a bad thing. They were about my money and the plans ahead.

The next app... I should make a photo-retouching app. One of the biggest complaints smartphone users have right now is lousy photo quality.

Photo-retouching app.

I decided that would be the next way to deepen user loyalty to the FreeChat empire.

Whether it’s an ApplePhone, a BlueberryPhone, or a feature phone, the cameras are all garbage right now. And nobody in the world wants to take a picture of themselves in bad quality and show it off to others.

The ApplePhone’s camera was only two megapixels right now.

Even if you looked at the photo a little closely, the square pixels practically showed themselves.

What if there were a magical app that could smooth out those ugly photos and make them look clean, and the only way to use it was to sign up through FreeChat?

Or what if the only way to share a picture of your newly beautified self was through FreeChat?

Then they’d have no choice but to use FreeChat.

And...

The app that made selfies prettier and became a massive hit was Linstagram, too.

I didn’t plan to make a social network like Linstagram right away, though.

I thought it was still too early.

Better to release it neither too early nor too late, but definitely before everyone else.

Zero, I think a photo-retouching app could be sold as a paid app. What do you think?

So I could charge for it at first, and then later release something like Linstagram for free? That would also work as promotion, right?

If I created a paid app I could sell immediately, I’d be able to start making money from apps faster than I expected.

Well... Zero was the one making most of the money anyway.

No. I’ll build the foundation myself, whether it’s an app or a program, just like I did with FreeChat.

If I sell the photo-retouching app as a paid app, how much revenue would it make?

Fourteen million dollars a year... that’s about 1.6 billion won, right?

1.6 billion won a year.

That was certainly not a small sum.

But it wasn’t money that made my hands tremble either. Not for me.

Besides, making money from apps isn’t the goal right now.

Exactly.

After talking for a while, I started to get sleepy.

Maybe it was because I didn’t have to worry about money, and the plans ahead were already solid. That made it easy to relax.

Then, Zero, I’m going to sleep soon. The stock market should be fine today, right?

Long bets... meaning you think stocks will go up?

Then if the stocks start looking like they’re about to fall again?

Earlier, Zero had said my current assets were 590 billion won, or roughly 600 billion.

Three or four times that would mean...

...Then I’d become a 2 trillion won asset holder?

I had too much money. Far too much.

I should take Mom, Dad, and Seohee to a department store one of these days.

I ought to give them proper Christmas presents for once.

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