Chapter 62
I’m translating the chapter directly into the required HTML format now, preserving the dialogue shifts and in-universe message styling. I’m also checking the business terms and the phone/message blocks so the markup stays valid and consistent.CHAPTER_TITLE: The Price of a Miracle
America, Steve Jobs’s home.
In the living room, all of Jobs’s family were gathered in a tense, prayer-like silence.
“……”
“……”
“……”
“……”
Warm morning sunlight poured in through the window.
And yet, for some reason, the temperature inside the living room felt cold.
At the center of it all, Jobs leaned back on the sofa, staring blankly out the window.
It’s been a long time since I was home at this hour on a weekday.
His family looked at him with pained eyes.
He had grown so thin in just a few weeks that he was almost unrecognizable.
They had all known his health was poor, but not this poor.
─ …….
Not even the sound of breathing dared grow loud in the room.
Their eyes were fixed on the black screen of the iPhone in Jobs’s hand.
Jobs and his family were waiting for one call alone, from Dr. Raymond.
“……Dad.”
It was Lea, his eldest daughter, who finally broke the heavy silence.
She stepped closer and carefully wrapped Jobs’s thin hand in both of hers.
“Don’t worry too much. I’m sure it’ll be good news.”
“…….”
“You said it yourself, Dad. That programmer who was going to help you is supposed to be incredible. And Dr. Raymond is the best in the world too, so… I’m sure they found a way to cure you.”
At his daughter’s comfort, Jobs forced the corners of his mouth upward.
He did not want to see his beloved daughter worrying over him.
But inside, he was burning up.
“Yes, Lea. The world’s best minds are trying to help me now. So… all I have to do is trust them and wait.”
He said the words, but a knot of anxiety still coiled somewhere deep in him.
Not only Jobs, but the rest of his family felt the same.
Why hasn’t he called?
Could it be… a failure?
Even that genius’s program couldn’t find my cancer cells?
Or did they find them and conclude there’s no cure?
As the negative thoughts kept piling on top of one another,
buzzz.
The iPhone in Jobs’s hand vibrated briefly.
Dr. Raymond
“……!”
“……!”
“……!”
“……!”
“……!”
Every eye in the room snapped to the phone at once.
His wife, Lauren, laid a hand on Jobs’s shoulder and gave him courage.
“Honey, answer it.”
“……Right.”
Jobs steadied his trembling hand as best he could, pressed the call button, and turned on speakerphone.
“……Dr. Raymond?”
“…….”
No reply came from the other end.
Not even breathing.
The silence felt short, but to Jobs it stretched impossibly long and heavy.
“Why aren’t you saying anything? Did something… go wrong with the program?”
Jobs couldn’t hold back and pressed him.
His voice wavered ever so slightly.
The family beside him held their breath and stared at the phone.
Please, no. Please, not the worst news.
They all shared the same thought.
Then, from the other end of the line—
[Steve. You can…]
“…….”
Why was he dragging it out?
Before Jobs could even get angry at that—
[You can live.]
In an instant, the air in the living room changed.
Jobs stared into space, dazed.
As if the words were foreign and he needed a moment to translate them.
“……L-live?”
[Yes, Steve. You can live.]
At that, Lauren burst into the tears she had been holding back.
“H-hic…!”
His son and daughters cried out in joy.
“Wow!”
“Dad!”
But Jobs was still unable to believe it, and asked again with a blank expression.
“R-really? You’re saying you found a cure? A medicine that works for my body?”
[Yes. There are still a few minor verification steps left, but I’m certain. We found a targeted drug combination that fits your cancer-cell genes exactly. This is… a miracle, Steve.]
“……You figured that out with the DNA analysis program?”
[That’s right. It’s truly an extraordinary program. It found in three minutes what we had spent years failing to uncover.]
“Three minutes…?”
[Yes. Precisely three minutes and twenty-four seconds.]
Dr. Raymond’s voice was full of excitement and awe.
Jobs had been astonished by the program Zero had modified, but more than that, the tension was finally draining from him now.
Thunk…
He sank deeper into the sofa back and closed his eyes in relief.
I… made it.
It felt like he had walked right up to death’s door and somehow come back by miracle.
While he was still gathering himself from that overwhelming surge of emotion, Dr. Raymond asked in a gentler, more cautious voice than before.
[And Steve, I have one favor to ask.]
“A favor?”
[Yes. Could you tell me who made that program?]
Jobs asked back, sounding surprised.
“Why?”
[I’m planning to write a paper based on this program. I’d like to list that person as a coauthor.]
“A coauthor? But before, you said you and your team would keep the program exclusively.”
At that, Dr. Raymond gave an embarrassed laugh through the receiver.
[That was my first thought, yes, but after seeing the results, I simply couldn’t do it. I do have at least a scholar’s minimum of conscience. To hoard such a great discovery among ourselves would be no different from theft.]
“Heh… is that so?”
Jobs snorted a laugh.
Doctors at university hospitals were famous for being proud and high-handed.
And yet now they were voluntarily talking about conscience and offering to share the credit.
That was proof enough of how overwhelming that program’s performance had been.
[Of course, any share in the program’s rights or its achievements, 70 percent will go to that person. So if it’s possible to make him a coauthor, I’d be honored.]
“I can ask him. But I don’t know his real name either.”
[You don’t know his real name? Then he wasn’t really an acquaintance?]
“He was an acquaintance. But… I don’t know exactly who he is.”
[……You don’t know who he is?]
“Hmm. All I know is that he’s quite a young man.”
[A young man… remarkable. To create something like this at that age.]
Dr. Raymond continued in amazement.
[If he doesn’t mind being listed as a coauthor, I’d like to include even a pseudonym. Coauthors on a paper can use one.]
“If it’s a pseudonym, I can tell you.”
After a moment’s thought, Jobs remembered the name he used.
“His name is Zero.”
[Zero… That is a rather profound name. Understood. Then please tell me if he agrees to be listed as a coauthor. I’ll call again within an hour with the concrete treatment schedule.]
“All right. Good work.”
Click.
The moment the call ended—
“Oh, Steve…!”
Lauren, eyes wet, grasped Jobs’s hand tightly.
Her shoulders were trembling faintly.
She had always stood by him, trying to look strong, but she could not hold back this emotion any longer.
“I’m so relieved. So….”
“You’ve had it rough too. The treatment will still take a while, but if Dr. Raymond sounded that confident, then he must really believe it.”
“Yes, that’s right.”
Jobs patted his wife’s back.
The gloom that had hung over the room was gone without a trace.
The sunlight streaming through the window finally felt warm.
Wiping tears from the corners of her eyes, his wife clapped her hands and forced brightness into her voice.
“This isn’t a time to just sit here. We can’t let today go by like this. We should have a party.”
“A party?”
“Yes! It’s practically the day you were born again.”
And so they were spending a happy time with the family when—
The screen of Jobs’s iPhone on the table lit up brightly.
It was a FreeChat notification.
When Jobs saw the message, a faint smile spread across his lips.
That sounds exactly like him.
No posturing as a savior, no emotional pressure, no smugness.
No grandstanding like, I saved your life, so you should be grateful.
Only a thorough businessman, asking for fair compensation for what he had done.
Jobs liked that businesslike attitude very much.
The agreement we made before was to preload Search as the default on Apple’s products. And a royalty on every Apple device sold.
Until now, Apple had been receiving money for installing Google’s search engine.
But with Another Technology, Apple was the one paying.
It was the exact reverse situation.
And on Android, Search is being used for free.
Given that situation, Apple obviously could not pay a massive royalty.
Still… he saved me. That’s an enormous kindness, not just to me, but to my family and to Apple as well.
Thinking of that, he felt they really ought to pay a proper royalty after all….
Jobs stood up and said to his family,
“I need to make an important call for a moment, so don’t disturb me.”
“Honey, is it about the treatment?”
“No.”
Jobs opened the bedroom door and answered briefly.
“Business.”
◇◇◇◆◇◇◇
“Hoo, I’m full.”
I looked at the empty pizza box and finished off the last of my cola.
Maybe because I hadn’t had pizza in a while, but that was seriously good.
Next time I should order the cheese crust.
After clearing away the pizza box, I checked the calendar on my desk.
Somehow, April had already slipped from mid-month into the end of the month.
Across that span, the words Midterms were written in large letters.
“Midterms start this Thursday, huh….”
For college students, it was a kind of unavoidable fate.
Depending on the class, there were written exams; for others, reports or individual presentations took their place.
No wonder so many people have been practically living in the library lately.
But I wasn’t worried.
I was confident about any kind of test.
And once midterms are over, there’s MT soon after.
Unlike freshman orientation, this one was for the computer engineering department, so there probably wouldn’t be any especially strange events.
From what Jinu-hyung and some of the other seniors had casually told me, it was just team-building games during the day, barbecue in the evening, and then done.
That’s the college schedule, anyway. Right now I’ve got something else to think about.
Just as I was thinking that for a moment—
buzzz.
The Galleon smartphone on my desk vibrated.
The screen lit up, and a FreeChat notification appeared.
Come to think of it, I had never given Steve Jobs my phone number.
We were registered as FreeChat friends and had exchanged messages, but still.
Giving him my number would just be annoying. Somehow I get the feeling he’d start calling me directly later on.
I was probably the only person in the world who didn’t want to give Steve Jobs his number because I figured he’d be the one making the call.
Except for Apple employees.
So I told Zero,
Zero, connect me to Jobs. Route the caller ID through the secretary’s office.
◇◇◇◆◇◇◇
Jobs’s room.
buzzz.
When his own iPhone rang, Jobs checked the screen.
Another Technology Secretary’s Office
A call from the secretary’s office… Is he at work?
Well, it was still morning. It made sense that he’d be busy working.
Jobs pressed the call button and brought the phone to his ear, and a relaxed voice came from the other end.
[Hello, Steve.]
It was Zero.
“Yes, it’s me.”
Jobs gave a short greeting.
No further pleasantries were needed. They were going to talk business anyway.
But even so, there was one thing he absolutely had to say before getting into that.
“……Thank you, Zero.”
Jobs spoke with genuine sincerity.
“I’ll still have to go through a long treatment process, but my doctor just confirmed it. Thanks to your program, I can live.”
For the proud Jobs to express gratitude so plainly to another person, and to a much younger man at that, was rare indeed.
But the other man had earned that sincere thanks.
Zero’s low laugh drifted through the receiver.
[If the doctor said that much, then you must have found a definite cure. Congratulations, Steve.]
“Yes. It’s thanks to you. Ah, and they said they’re writing a paper based on your algorithm. They want you listed as a coauthor. Is that all right?”
[A coauthor… Would it be all right to use the name “Zero”?]
“That’s possible.”
[Then I have no objection. Well, enough pleasantries. Now we should talk business, shouldn’t we?]
At those words, Jobs’s mind turned cold and clear.
“Yes. Go ahead. What do you want?”
[First, the basic condition was that my search engine, Search, be installed as the default search engine on all Apple products. You still agree to that, yes?]
There was no room for negotiation there.
And from Jobs’s perspective, it was not a bad move at all. It would let Apple finally break away from Google entirely.
“Agreed. Starting with the next update, we’ll push Google out of search and set your Search as the default.”
[Good.]
Satisfaction colored Zero’s voice.
But of course, that was not the end.
[Then now we need to discuss the most important part: the royalty.]
Jobs swallowed.
Here it came.
[How much can you offer?]
Zero tossed the ball back to him, asking him to name the price first.
Jobs fell silent and thought carefully.
How much should I offer?
The other man was his savior.
If he were being compensated out of Jobs’s personal fortune, Jobs wouldn’t have begrudged him even all of it.
Money could always be earned again.
But this was a contract between Apple and Another Technology.
Business and personal life have to stay separate.
As CEO, he couldn’t hand out excessive royalties at the expense of the shareholders’ interests.
At the same time, he couldn’t throw out a paltry sum and risk offending that genius either.
Jobs pictured Apple’s future.
As the smartphone market grows, within a few years we could be selling 100 million a year, maybe even several hundred million if you count MacBooks or Macs.
And then—
No matter how amazing the software, Search is still software.
It didn’t cost hardware manufacturing expenses.
On Android, it was even an app people downloaded and used for free.
Besides, the usual search engine arrangement was for the search engine company to pay Apple to get in, the way Google had done.
And now Apple was trying to do the reverse, to buy Search by paying for it.
That alone was already extraordinary treatment.
Ordinary software licensing costs are only a few cents per device.
But the other side was not an ordinary company.
He could not in good conscience say “a few cents” to such a company.
Fine. If I’m going to pay properly, then I’ll pay properly.
Jobs made his decision.
The kind of offer that went beyond extraordinary.
An offer that defied the common sense of the industry, and showed respect to the man who had saved his life.
“……Per Apple device.”
Jobs spoke.
“$0.70. How does that sound?”
Seventy cents.
Someone might call that a small amount.
But it was anything but.
Anyone who understood software ecosystems would be shocked by that number.
If Apple sold 10 million iPhones, Another Technology would make 7 million dollars while sitting still.
For nothing more than copying over code, with no manufacturing cost at all.
But Apple’s target was not 10 million devices.
If it sold 100 million in a year, that would be 70 million dollars.
And if it eventually sold 1 billion?
That’s 700 million dollars.
Seven hundred million dollars a year from a single software royalty.
That was a ridiculous sum.
And this wasn’t even for an operating system like OS; it was for a single search engine application.
This is an enormous concession.
Android phone makers used Search for free.
But Apple was paying $0.70 per device.
The difference was clear.
Zero, you’d understand. This is a price that shows I respect you properly.
If this were a normal negotiator, they would have started at ten cents, then maybe moved to twenty, and at most closed at thirty.
But Jobs had named a figure that was already above his own bottom line from the start.
He did not want to haggle.
Jobs waited for Zero’s answer, expecting approval.
At this level, he’ll surely be satisfied. He might even be surprised.
But—
The voice from the other end was completely different from what Jobs expected.
[Four dollars.]
Short and firm. Jobs’s eyebrows twitched.
“……What?”
[Four dollars per device. That is the value of my technology, Steve.]
“Hey, seventy cents is already top-tier in this industry. Microsoft doesn’t even pay that much. Four dollars? For just a search engine, not even an OS?”
Jobs’s voice rose.
But the voice on the other end was not just calm; it was cold.
[You’re not simply buying a search engine.]
“…….”
[This is the only key that can break Google’s monopoly. If you think of it as the cost of freeing Apple from that exhausting shadow over there… isn’t it actually cheap?]
At that, Jobs fell silent.
In an instant, his mind began racing fast.