The Surprising Vote Game
Because we arrived late, the sculpture department tour began with three shots of soju in quick succession.
After nearly an hour of brutal drinking games, I left the sculpture department room with Senior Lee Jinwoo and moved on to other departments in the art college.
After sculpture, we stopped by Oriental Painting, and then the Department of Design.
'Oriental Painting and the Department of Design were both gentler with the drinking than sculpture, but even so... they weren’t exactly easy.'
Still, I hadn’t drunk all that much. I barely got caught in any of the drinking games.
At most, it was a little over a bottle of soju, plus a few glasses of liquor and beer.
'If I’d had that much in a short time, I’d have been drunk, but spread out over several hours, it barely even feels like I drank anything.'
Was it because this body was young?
Or because the Gangwon air was good?
Or because I was drinking with younger students?
...I was starting to sound like an old man.
Walking beside me in the hallway, Senior Lee Jinwoo said, "Hah... Dohyun, you were really good."
"Me?"
"You’re good at keeping the mood up. If we made a group with you at the center and sent you around to group dates, there’d be nothing to worry about."
"Haha... that’s only because you kept the atmosphere going so well, Senior."
"Like I did anything. Hey, and stop saying 'Senior.' Call me hyung."
"Yes, hyung."
When I answered politely, Senior Lee Jinwoo looked toward the door at the end of the hallway.
Loud noise was spilling out from there too.
“This is fun! So fun! The game of death...”
As we headed toward the sound, Lee Jinwoo said, "We’re going to Western Painting last. You’re not tired? You played soccer during the day and drank quite a bit."
He seemed to think I’d drunk a lot.
"I’m still fine."
"Oh... right, a freshman. Your liver’s still in top shape. Still, take it easy. Once you hit your second and third year, your stamina drops before you even notice."
I swallowed a bitter smile.
'Even as a second- or third-year, I’d still only be in my early twenties.'
At that age, I could work construction for three days and three nights, then recover with one day off.
There was no reason to say that out loud, so I just nodded calmly.
Before long, Senior Lee Jinwoo and I arrived at the last stop of the art college tour, in front of the Western Painting department room.
That was when Zero spoke inside my head.
Master, I have something to report.
'What is it?'
The Android OS cooperation contract between Seongsam Electronics and Google that I mentioned earlier is likely to be finalized within a few hours.
So the OS contract between Seongsam and Google.
'Then they’ll probably contact us soon too. They’ll invest in us and ask us to make apps they can use for the Android smartphones they’re releasing in a few months.'
Yes. They will likely request Android OS versions of FreeChat and Clear Cam first, since those already exist.
I was planning to make Android OS versions of FreeChat and Clear Cam anyway.
There was no way I could give up the Android smartphone app market from here on out.
That said, I wasn’t going to immediately say, "Sure, we’ll make them."
If I was the one in the stronger position, it was better to squeeze out whatever I could.
'Just like I squeezed money out of Apple, I need to extract value that can’t be measured in cash...'
At the same time, I didn’t want to be too hard on Seongsam.
Maybe I couldn’t help it, being Korean and all, but I didn’t really want to make life difficult for Seongsam Electronics, a pillar of the Republic of Korea.
Still, business was business.
'If Seongsam Electronics contacts us, handle whatever you can on your own. If it’s something important, tell me.'
Understood.
While I was talking with Zero, Senior Lee Jinwoo said, "All right, shall we go in to Western Painting?"
"Yep."
"For the record, Dohyun."
"Yes?"
"Traditionally, Western Painting has the prettiest girls in the art college. Maybe because of that, some of them do have a bit of an attitude about their looks, but... still, pretty girls can be forgiven for most things, right?"
"Haha..."
"Then let’s go in!"
Bang!
Senior Lee Jinwoo shoved the door open and went in.
Then, contrasting with the cool air of the hallway, the hot rush of warmth inside the Western Painting room brushed my face.
The drinking scene in Western Painting wasn’t all that different from the other departments.
As soon as I went in, they had me introduce myself, and when it was time to join, they told me to start with a somak, so I drank one.
About thirty minutes after I entered the Western Painting room, the student council president of the department, his tongue slightly tangled, announced, "Well then! The Western Painting tradition game! We’re starting the exciting voting game!"
Cheers erupted all around me.
"Wooaaah!"
"We’ve been waiting!"
"Ooooh!!"
Everyone else seemed to know what the "voting game" was, because they cheered at once.
Seeing Senior Lee Jinwoo wearing an intrigued expression, he probably knew too.
I was the only one who seemed out of the loop.
Clang, clang!
The Western Painting club president tapped a large naengmyeon bowl with a spoon.
"All right, everyone get your paper and pen! There may not be enough pens, so share with the person next to you!"
"Yes!"
"You’ve all got your ballots, right?! The rules are simple! Men write down the 'woman they want to date,' and women write down the 'man they want to date,' then hand them in! The top man and woman will go on a walk-date outside and take a photo together before coming back!"
"Wooooooo!"
"Eeeeeek..."
The girls cheered loudly enough, but the boys’ voices were even louder.
It looked like everyone had been waiting for this.
Then one of my Computer Science classmates asked, "But what do we do if we don’t know everyone’s names?"
"Ah, you won’t write names. You’ll write each person’s number! Our first-year class rep can stand up first and say, 'I’m Woman Number 1!' Then the guy next to her says, 'I’m Man Number 1!' and so on for 2, 3, and the rest. Everyone understand?"
"Ahhh~"
"Yes!"
"Understood!"
"Good! Then our first-year class rep, Miju, you get up first, say your number, and sit back down!"
"Yes!"
The first-year class rep of Western Painting stood up and said in a bright, crisp voice, "I’m Woman Number 1!"
After that, the boys went one after another, saying, "I’m Man Number __!" and the girls did the same.
Of course, my turn came too.
"I’m Man Number 14!"
Before I’d even finished saying "Man Number 14," the girls’ hands were already moving busily.
The sound of rustling paper overlapped from everywhere. They seemed to be checking whether they had written my number correctly.
Just like the girls, the boys’ eyes were all turned toward one direction.
The gazes of the drunken male freshmen were all aimed at one girl sitting there, a girl who seemed oddly out of place in the noisy drinking atmosphere.
"..."
Long black hair falling all the way to her waist, skin so pale it looked almost white, and eyes sharp enough to cut, framed by deep lashes.
A high bridge to her nose, and lips pressed firmly shut.
She was, without question, a girl anyone would call beautiful.
With a calm, perhaps slightly cold voice that suited her looks, she said, "I’m Woman Number 21."
It was only one line, but that one line seemed to decide the boys.
They were going to vote for Woman Number 21.
Then the voting ended.
"All right, shall we check the results?!" The Western Painting club president shook the naengmyeon bowl full of ballots with an overexcited voice.
Then the students kept the mood going by making drum sounds with their mouths.
The moment he checked the first ballot, the club president said, as if he’d expected it, "Man Number 14! One vote!"
At his shout, groans and cheers mingled from all over the room.
"Oh..."
"Mm..."
"Of course..."
"Dohyun hyung... please disappear already..."
"...Hyung Dohyun, just go outside for a bit. I’m seriously too jealous."
Among the girls, there were quiet murmurs of relief; from the boys, voices full of envy burst out.
While I was giving an awkward smile at those comments, the club president went, "Oh, the next one’s a girl number? Woman Number 21! Seol-a!"
At the words "Woman Number 21," the reaction of the boys and girls flipped.
"Ooohhh..."
The boys made eager noises.
"Ugh..."
"Hnnng..."
The girls groaned in pain.
The counting went on like that.
And when the counting ended...
"Then the results are... Man Number 14! Woman Number 21!"
The Western Painting club president spoke in a bright voice, but the result was already out, so there wasn’t much suspense left.
That didn’t mean the atmosphere had died, though.
"L-let’s do it again!"
"Again! Again!"
"As long as Dohyun hyung isn’t here, I’ve got a chance!"
"...Hey, not you."
"Not you either."
"Hey, I actually have a shot. Better than you, at least..."
Both the girls and the boys let out disappointed cries, as if they were sure they could have been chosen if only Kim Dohyun and Woman Number 21 hadn’t been there.
Watching the freshmen, the club president laughed and said, "Fine, fine, let’s do it again. But we only have one camera, so even if you’re picked, you’ll have to wait for the camera to come back before you can go on your walk."
"We can just go without taking a picture!"
"Hoho... sure, sure. Just a moment!"
The Western Painting club president handed me a digital camera.
"Computer Science class rep! Take Woman Number 21, Seol-a, for a walk around the resort, then take a picture by the fountain at the resort entrance and come back. You know where that is, right?"
"Yes."
"You’re only taking a picture and coming back, got it? Don’t do anything weird. Well... if you’ve got the skill, I guess you can do it?"
"Haha..."
At the club president’s sly, teasing tone, I let out a light laugh.
On the other hand, the expressions of the other freshmen, especially the girls, had stiffened a little.
"Then, Seol-a, have a good time!"
"...Yes."
Woman Number 21, Han Seol-a, was already putting on her shoes by the entrance.
Rather than looking forward to a night walk with me, she seemed far more eager to get this annoying thing over with as quickly as possible.
I followed behind Han Seol-a and left the room.
"Then I’ll be going."
"Yeah, Dohyun, go have fun!"
"Hyung, you don’t even have to come back!"
"Don’t come back!"
Thud.
The Western Painting door shut.
And the noisy sound spilling out into the hallway was cut off at once.
"..."
"..."
The hallway was quiet. Not dead silent, but very different from the noisy room behind us.
"I’m Man Number 3! Please, I’m begging you, let me do well this time! I’m seriously a decent guy!"
"Kyaaah!"
"W-Woman Number 4...! Please take care of me!"
"I’m Man Number 4! I’m really good at singing! I’ll sing a song for you!"
"Ooooh..."
"Sing! Sing!"
"Wow, you really want to get picked, don’t you?!"
Unlike before, this time the students were actively trying to sell themselves.
Then Woman Number 21, Han Seol-a, let out a sigh and said to me, "Let’s go already. We have to take the picture and come back."
Her voice was dry as winter night air.
As if she wouldn’t have gone at all if it hadn’t been me going with her, or maybe as if she had no interest in this freshman orientation event at all, or perhaps in being a college student in general.
While I was preparing for a strange night walk with an equally strange girl...
At the same time, in San Francisco International Airport, in the United States...
Drip, drip, drip.
Rain was pouring down in sheets outside the airport.
Watching the rain streak across the gray sky, Kim Hyeoncheol, head of Seongsam Electronics’ Future Innovation Office, adjusted his tie slightly.
'What awful weather. I came all the way here to finish the contract... and it had to be on a day like this.'
For the past month and a half, Kim Hyeoncheol had been locked in bloody negotiations with the Google headquarters staff over the Android OS contract back in Korea.
Now it was truly time to bring things to a close, and he had flown all the way here to the United States in person to stamp the final contract.
But he still couldn’t relax.
'It looks like Google and we’re joining forces against a giant enemy called Apple, but...'
Google was by no means easy to deal with.
They agreed that, if they were going to stand against Apple, Seongsam’s hardware and Google’s software had to join forces, but within that alliance, who would actually hold the reins was a separate matter.
'I can’t let my guard down until the very end.'
He was tired from the long flight, but Kim Hyeoncheol’s eyes remained sharp.
'Still, we’ll get the OS contract one way or another. For now, neither side has another option. The real issue is what comes next.'
A smartphone with Android OS installed.
The hardware itself, Seongsam could make the best in the world.
But the contents inside it, meaning the applications, were another matter.
'Unexpectedly, Google built a solid OS, but they haven’t prepared all that many applications to go with it.'
That was an unexpected piece of information he’d learned during negotiations with Google.
So Seongsam Electronics’ Future Innovation Office had compiled a list of promising application developers and companies around the world. The plan was to make aggressive investments the moment the contract with Google was signed and secure high-quality applications.
But Kim Hyeoncheol’s thirst didn’t stop there.
'External support is important, but... in the end, we need killer content led by our own company.'
There were plenty of brilliant developers inside Seongsam too, among the best in Korea. Their coding skill and optimization ability were beyond question.
But they had one fatal weakness.
Creativity.
Was it because of the rigid corporate culture, or because of the company’s heavy focus on hardware?
Seongsam Electronics’ development team could create technically perfect apps, but they lacked the inventive spark to plan an app that users would look at and think, 'I want to try that!'
'In the end, what we need is planning ability. If we have the ideas, we can provide the development power.'
In other words, even if coding skills were a little weaker, they needed fresh blood with excellent ideas.
If the ideas were good enough, he didn’t care whether the person had a flashy resume or not.
'Maybe I should run a short-term internship for college students to draw in ideas... and hold a contest too.'
When it came to ideas, Another Technology was brilliant.
FreeChat, with the audacious idea of making text messages free.
Clear Cam, which turned the act of taking a photo itself into a game.
By the time they were released, people inside Seongsam Electronics had reacted with, "Ah, so that was possible? Not such a big deal," but before launch, they had been things no one had imagined.
The instinct to catch and release first what people wanted, before people even knew it themselves.
That was the essence of business.
'If Apple’s Steve Jobson has captured the emotion of smartphones, then Another Technology’s Vincent Lightman has captured the emotion of software.'
But according to Kim Hyeoncheol’s information, something felt off.
Another Technology’s public representative was an American named Vincent Lightman, but whether he was really the developer raised plenty of questions.
'Putting the information together, Vincent Lightman is probably just a front man. The real brain is hidden behind him. I have no idea who that is, though.'
Nothing was certain yet.
He prided himself on keeping his finger on the pulse of the global economy, but in the few months he’d spent sorting out internal politics and other matters, the world had changed far too quickly.
'If the chairman had stayed in management, then useless internal politics like this...'
As Kim Hyeoncheol was thinking that...
"Director."
Anna-hui, his secretary, approached him while he was lost in thought.
"The escort vehicle has arrived. We should head out soon."
"Ah, right."
Kim Hyeoncheol nodded and started walking.
The automatic doors opened, and humid air rushed in. As he headed toward the black vehicle waiting outside, he suddenly seemed to remember something and spoke again.
"Come to think of it, Secretary An. Your younger sibling is in college, isn’t he?"
At the unexpected question, Anna-hui’s eyes widened.
"Yes? Ah, yes. He’s a third-year student in the Computer Science department at Hankuk University."
"Computer Science at Hankuk University. What was the name again?"
"Seohee An."
"Seohee An..."
Kim Hyeoncheol repeated the name as if rolling it around in his mouth.
'Creative talent. Fresh blood...'
Of course, he wasn’t expecting anything grand from a college student.
But wasn’t the saying that the darkest place is under the lamp?
Maybe the truly outstanding talent was the younger sibling of his own secretary.
Life really was impossible to predict.
"In the first half of this year, we’ll probably have some openings for a college-student contest and a few short-term internships at headquarters. Tell your sibling to apply. If he gets in through the regular hiring process later, the advantage will be pretty useful. It’s not a bad idea to get some experience in advance."
"Uh..."
Anna-hui seemed too startled to continue.
Seongsam Electronics’ short-term internships were so competitive that the word "short-term" barely applied. Just having that internship experience made a person look highly capable to most mid-sized companies.
And Director Kim Hyeoncheol had personally told her sibling to apply?
That was practically the same as saying they’d be accepted. And mentioning an advantage in regular hiring meant he was basically offering to clear a path for them to join Seongsam in the future.
"What is it? Your sibling doesn’t want to work at our company?"
"Ah, no! It’s not that... Thank you, Director."
Anna-hui bowed deeply.
Kim Hyeoncheol got into the car and gave a small laugh.
"No need to thank me. The way you work tells me your sibling will probably do well too. If they’re in Computer Science at Hankuk University, they shouldn’t be lacking in skill either... and if you know any decent students around them, tell them to apply for the contest as well."
"I’ll pass that along."
He brushed rain from his coat and added, "I also feel a little guilty about making you work late all the time, after all."
"...Thank you. I’ll make sure my sibling’s documents are prepared carefully."
"Mm."
The door closed, and the car pulled away smoothly.
Inside the car, cutting through the rain, Kim Hyeoncheol opened his briefcase again.
There were still a few hours left before the final contract with Google that would determine the fate of Seongsam Electronics.
Even as he carefully reviewed the contract terms one last time, the word "applications" wouldn’t leave his mind.
'The more I think about it, the more it feels like the success of our new smartphone will depend on applications.'
For Seongsam Electronics, the smartphone needed a reason for customers to choose it over Apple’s phone. In simple terms, it needed something special that Apple’s phone didn’t have.
And Kim Hyeoncheol was convinced that that "something special" was applications.
His instincts, sharpened over more than twenty years from the bottom rung of the company all the way to this position, told him so.
And the only company that could create those special applications, at least as far as he could think right now, was Another Technology.
If it was them, they were probably still up at this very moment, developing something new through the night.
'Since I’m in the United States, I should meet Another Technology’s representative, Vincent Lightman, in person. If he’s really the representative, that’s best of all... and if he’s only a proxy, then I can still meet the real one through him.'
Even if Another Technology was a rising startup, it was a tiny organization compared to Seongsam Electronics.
So if he, a director-level executive, went there personally, the "real representative" would surely appear.
'First, I need to wrap up the negotiations with Google properly.'
Of course, Kim Hyeoncheol assumed the mysterious "real representative" was American, and thought nothing more of it.
But he had no idea.
He had no idea that the "real representative" was right now on the other side of the world, in Gangwon, taking a strange night walk alone with a female college student.