The Idea Called Uber
Ah Su-yeon had gone in intending to teach a student, only to realize she had met a genius far too early.
In any case, she still had to answer the method the student had proposed.
...But what on earth am I supposed to say? I’m not even sure myself.
As the pride of a professor and the doubts of a computer scientist began to tangle together, Ah Su-yeon’s mind went blank.
Woowoong- woowoong.
Her phone on the desk rang loudly.
It was a call from the department chair.
Ah Su-yeon snatched up the phone in a hurry.
"Yes, Dean. Ah, yes. Tonight’s dinner for the engineering faculty... Yes, I’m sorry. I’ll head out right away."
Her fingertips trembled faintly as she hung up.
She had been so absorbed in analyzing Kim Dohyun’s report that she had completely forgotten her dinner plans.
I want to keep talking...
No, let’s be honest.
...Right now, I just want to run away.
To be blunt, she had no idea what she was supposed to say at this moment.
The material Kim Dohyun had thrown at her about "variable cycles." If she was going to properly verify it and explain it, she would have to study it herself first.
If she charged ahead without any preparation, she would lose face and have nothing to show for it.
Ah Su-yeon rose as calmly as she could and slipped on her coat.
She forced her expression into something composed, but her heart was hammering away.
"Ahem... Sorry, Kim Dohyun. Something urgent came up all of a sudden."
"Ah, it’s fine. What should I do then?"
"Well... you should head out too. What you just mentioned... I’ll give you a proper answer later, separately."
"Yes, ma’am."
Kim Dohyun stood and bowed his head.
For some reason, that easygoing attitude looked almost unnervingly unruffled.
Ah Su-yeon hurried out of the lab as though she were being chased, forgetting entirely that she had left a student behind in there.
As she walked down the hallway, she bit her lip hard.
...What a mess.
Today she had walked in intending to teach a student, only to come out having been taught a thing or two herself.
It was embarrassing. But, strangely enough, it was not a bad feeling.
Interesting.
This was the sort of material that could even become a paper.
And if she did write one...
...I’d have to think about co-authorship with Kim Dohyun too.
The next day after that brief meeting with Professor Ah Su-yeon was Friday.
Friday was a no-class day, but I still came to school.
Not to study, though. I came to attend the freshman welcome party, the so-called opening assembly.
"To the start of the new semester, let’s go!"
"Let’s go!"
With Senior Lee Jinwoo’s toast, the opening assembly began.
It wasn’t the kind of event where people were forced to drink.
Those who wanted alcohol were sitting in one corner, while the ones who just wanted to have fun were laughing and talking away in high spirits.
Of course, as the class representative, I had various things to take care of...
"Oh, so you’re the freshman rep for this year. I hear Lee Jinwoo says you’re an excellent student. ...You’re the one who’s so good at soccer, aren’t you?"
"I heard Professor Ah Su-yeon was singing your praises today, even though she wasn’t even here. She doesn’t usually praise students."
"By the time you’re a sophomore, you’ll be taking my classes too. Study hard."
"I’m expecting a lot from you. I heard you got a perfect score on the CSAT, and yet you chose computer science instead of medicine. A fine choice."
"Yes, sir. I’ll work hard!"
"Polite, aren’t you."
"Mm-hmm, and he’s got a good face too."
"Being class rep means you’ll have your share of trouble, so if you think you might be late or anything, contact the teaching assistant."
"Ha ha, Professor Park. Seems you’ve taken a liking to the class rep."
"He’s good at greetings."
"Well, greeting people is basic courtesy."
First, I made the rounds and greeted the professors as the representative of the freshmen.
"Hey, Computer Engineering! Our class rep is here, so come out! Who’s your rep?!"
"Ah, that Lee Jinwoo bastard showed up! Hey, bring over an empty beer bottle. Let’s crack his head open! ...You’re the Computer Engineering rep, right?! You’re the guy! The one who scored six goals against us at orientation!"
"Yes, hello! I’m indeed that guy who scored six goals!"
"Oh, damn... now that you say it so openly, I’ve got nothing to say. But you’ve got manners, unlike Lee Jinwoo."
"Hey, why would I greet you the way he does? Anyway, he’s our rep, so remember his face! Say hello when you pass each other!"
I also went around with Senior Lee Jinwoo to greet other departments besides the engineering faculty.
But somehow... Lee Jinwoo seemed like a different person in other departments.
Especially when we visited the dance department, where there were a lot of women.
"Ha ha... hello, everyone in the dance department! We’re from Computer Engineering~ We came to introduce our class rep~!"
His voice turned syrupy and sweet.
What a man, when he apparently even had a girlfriend.
Could his girlfriend possibly be in the dance department?
A very reasonable suspicion.
Squeee!
"FM! FM! FM!"
"Oh... the Computer Engineering rep is handsome!"
"So handsome!"
Anyhow, it was one fun, productive... opening assembly.
I also went around the other departments, collected the contact information of each freshman rep, and gave them mine as well.
By the time the opening assembly ended, it was already well past eleven at night.
"Everyone get home safely! Text me when you arrive!"
At my words, my classmates waved and laughed.
"Yes! Class rep hyung, you worked hard!"
"Dohyun hyung, see you Monday!"
"Hey, anyone going to Nokdu? Let’s share a taxi!"
"Me, me!"
The street in front of the pub was chaotic with the mood of a crowd breaking up.
I loaded my classmates into taxis one by one, or bundled together the ones going in the same direction and sent them off.
The cleanup after the opening assembly.
It was the sort of thing a class rep was supposed to do.
Looks like everyone’s gone.
The place seemed more or less settled.
Sending everyone home was easier than I’d expected. Maybe because they were boys, but they all said they’d manage on their own.
I’d been bracing myself in case they drank like crazy, remembering orientation, but this is much better than I thought.
Just then, someone tapped my shoulder.
It was Senior Lee Jinwoo, cheeks slightly flushed.
"Hey, Dohyun. You said you weren’t going back to your studio apartment tonight, but going home instead. Wasn’t it Jamsil?"
"Yes, that’s right."
"Then I’ll wait for you, hyung. I’ll make sure you get in your cab first... then I’ve got to go on to a second round with the other student council guys."
Even though he was fairly drunk, Lee Jinwoo seemed sincere about looking out for me.
"It’s okay, hyung. There are plenty of taxis, so I’ll get one quickly. You should go. It’s still cold out."
"No, I’ll wait."
"Really, I’m fine, hyung."
"...You sure? Really?"
"Yes."
"All right, then I’m off. See you Monday?"
"Yes, see you Monday!"
Only after I watched Lee Jinwoo disappear into the distance did I turn toward the roadside.
11:30 p.m.
The area near Exit 3 of Hankuk University Entrance Station where I was standing was a complete mess.
The streets were packed, not only with people from our Computer Engineering department but also with crowds from other departments’ opening assemblies.
"Driver! Nokdu! Toward the bar district! Nokdu!"
"Nope, not going! I’ve got to return to the garage!"
"Come on, driver, I’ll give you an extra thousand won!"
A rather pretty-looking girl even called out sweetly at the taxi window, but the driver just drove off in a flash.
"Tsk!"
"Unni, let’s find another car."
"How many is that already? Four just drove off."
"Then... should we take the bus?"
"The bus comes ages later... and it takes forever. I want to get home fast."
Here, "Nokdu Street" meant a distance that was basically just the minimum fare. For a taxi, it wasn’t worth the money.
On top of that, Nokdu Street was narrow and hard to drive through, and once you went in, it was a bad area to come back out of without a passenger.
My studio apartment was near Nokdu Street too, so I knew it well.
Of course, unlike most of the student rooms around there, the place I lived was the penthouse of the only luxury officetel in the area.
Anyway.
From the drivers’ point of view, Friday night and Nokdu Street are definitely not a direction they want to accept.
As I was thinking, I heard the voices of the girls who had just failed to catch a taxi and were stamping their feet in frustration.
"Driver! Double! I’ll pay twice as much! Nok~!"
"Nope, not going! Nokdu’s a no-go!"
The moment the word "Nok" came out, the taxi driver waved his hand furiously.
Then he noticed me standing a little farther ahead.
"Student! Are you heading to Nokdu too?"
He asked me out of nowhere.
The girls’ eyes snapped toward me, and I replied without much thought.
"Jamsil."
"Oh! Jamsil? Get in, hurry up, get in!"
The driver’s whole tone changed.
From Hankuk University Entrance Station to Jamsil was an easy, comfortable long-distance ride if you took the Nambusunhwan-ro.
At this hour, with the late-night surcharge added on too... it would easily run at least twenty thousand won.
"Damn it! He’s leaving again!"
"This is so unfair..."
"That was our taxi..."
"Boo..."
"But... I think I’ve seen that guy somewhere before? Wasn’t he the rep for some department?"
"You remember that?"
"Of course. He’s good-looking, so it stuck."
The girls kept shooting me looks of envy and resentment through the window.
Regardless, the driver turned off the empty-taxi light and pulled away.
I sank deep into the seat and looked out the window.
Outside, all sorts of college students and office workers who had been refused rides flashed past my eyes.
"Driver! Nokdu! Nokdu! Nokduuu!"
"Not going to Nokdu."
"Ah, why not!"
Students and office workers alike were waving money around and still being ignored.
Hailing a taxi like that... back when I originally lived, I never could’ve imagined something so ridiculous.
If you called a taxi through an app, it came.
That was common sense in the world I used to live in.
If I made a taxi-dispatch app and got to the market before smartphones fully took hold in Korea, it could explode as a platform, couldn’t it?
That was my first thought.
Not a platform where you waved your hand on the street, but one where you summoned a ride through an app.
But I immediately shook my head.
No. That’s going to be hard for a while.
The reason was simple.
First, the hardware wasn’t there.
Right now, taxi drivers were all using flip phones. Could I really expect them to buy smartphones the moment they were released? Impossible.
Even aside from the price, if it seems difficult, they just won’t use it.
Second, and this was the fatal one... the power relationship was different.
Right now, drivers aren’t refusing passengers because they have no customers. They’re refusing them because the trip doesn’t make money.
Say I built an app and handed it out to drivers.
If the screen showed Departure: Hankuk University Entrance / Destination: Nokdu Street, would they really hit the accept button?
They absolutely wouldn’t. Even with a passenger right in front of them, they won’t go if you say Nokdu.
Any taxi driver would ignore the call and head off to pick up a long-distance passenger instead.
Because right now, taxis were the ones in control. They could choose their passengers.
Even now, though "call taxis" existed, taxis still wouldn’t take short trips.
The reason future taxi apps succeeded was that they absorbed losses worth hundreds of billions, showered both passengers and drivers with subsidies, and only after monopolizing the market did they introduce systems like "no destination display" and "forced dispatch."
They only started collecting money after they’d monopolized the platform.
I have the money to invest like that... but for a while, Korea still won’t have the smartphone infrastructure, so it’s not going to work.
Then.
My gaze shifted to the many private cars driving along the road.
The road was jammed in the late-night rush of a Friday night.
What caught my eye, though, were the cars themselves.
Older Avantes, Matizes, Prides...
More than luxury sedans, there were especially many older or cheaper cars.
Well, this is the Gwanak District Office intersection. It’s the entrance to Sinrim and Nokdu Street.
This was one of the cheapest neighborhoods in Seoul for rent, so the identity of the people behind those steering wheels was obvious.
They were probably strapped-for-cash students living alone, or young office workers who had only just started their careers and had been pushed here in search of cheap rent.
People like that would adapt to smartphones the fastest once they were distributed.
And there was one other common point. Most of them were driving alone.
The passenger seat and back seat were empty.
Right, Zero?
“Correct. Approximately 78 percent of the vehicles have only the driver inside. Also, given the current location, the probability that they are headed toward Nokdu Street is very high.”
My guess had been right.
Taxi drivers would rather die than go somewhere they didn’t want to.
But those people had to go home anyway. It was a road they were taking whether they liked it or not.
What if, on the way they’re already driving anyway, we let them pick up the students shivering outside?
The driver gets to earn gas money. The passenger gets home.
No one would refuse a win-win structure like that.
...Right. I don’t need a taxi. I need to connect the cars already on the move.
Letting people pick up passengers along a route they were already driving and make money from it.
The instant that concept flashed through my mind, a familiar name surfaced.
That’s Uber.
The monster of the sharing economy that had shaken the world in my previous life.
The company whose pure valuation had once reached into the hundreds of trillions of won.
But it won’t work in Korea.
I knew the many reasons Uber had failed to gain traction in Korea too.
But there was no need to do it in Korea anyway.
My stage wasn’t limited to Korea.
I can start in the United States.
To become an international standard, it would make sense to swallow up the American market first anyway.