Chapter 137: Test Reaction
Chapter 137: Test Reaction
The launch of the Pangea System triggered seismic shifts in the computer industry.
[Cloud Gaming Changes the World]
[Earth Resource's New Service Sparks Hot User Reactions]
[Desired Games Launch in Just One Second]
[Earth Resource Dreams of a Hyper-Connected Society]
[Will the Pangea System, Linking All Computers as One, Spell the End for High-Performance PC Sales?]
Cloud services had been in use for quite some time in companies and government offices.
The media praised Earth Resource for bringing them to personal computers in one fell swoop, making them mainstream.
“Eddie, how’s the situation right now?”
“We filled up all 100,000 test slots in just three minutes after launch.”
“No issues?”
“Nothing so far. And we’ve got plenty of capacity to spare.”
Most employees at Earth Resource had come into the office for emergency duty.
On launch day, you never knew what might crop up, and any sloppy response would draw heavy fire from the press.
A customer service team member came over and reported.
“Doesn’t seem to be much backlash from testers. Though some say FPS games feel a bit off due to response times.”
“That’s just a technical limitation.”
The system received signals from the user’s computer, ran the game here, and streamed back the visuals.
There were inherent physical limits to latency imposed by network tech.
It was something Oh Myeong-woo had flagged early on.
“Kim Shin, Eddie. This system has a major flaw.”
“What is it?”
“Even if it’s convenient, gamers won’t be satisfied if it feels sluggish. Like your focus keeps breaking.”
“I get what you mean.”
They’d done everything possible to minimize latency.
There were some technical tweaks, but ultimately, money solved most of it.
In a capitalist world, if money couldn’t fix a problem, you probably just didn’t have enough.
“We need to invest. What else is there?”
Users in Asian countries connecting to data centers in the US inevitably faced higher latency.
So they boldly acquired or leased centers in Asia and Europe.
―Kim Shin: Need money.
―Ellie: Money?
―Kim Shin: Earth Resource wants to buy data centers. Looking to take out a loan for cash flow.
Getting a loan in Korea meant mountains of paperwork.
Borrowing someone else’s money was never easy.
But they’d gotten one smoothly from JP Morgan before, for building data centers.
―Ellie: How much?
―Kim Shin: 13 billion dollars. Could be more.
―Ellie: We can handle that in-house. I’ll contact the team.
A few simple texts later, internal approval came through, and the New York loan team flew to San Francisco with the papers.
“An honor to meet you, CEO Kim Shin.”
“You’re too kind.”
“You’re my role model. Internally at our investment bank, we’ve given Earth Resource top-tier credit despite its short history, plus preferential rates on this deal.”
A quick chat with the rep, a signature on the docs, and 13 billion dollars hit the account that same day.
The interest rate barely topped 2%.
‘No wonder they say do business with other people’s money.’
Then came aggressive investing.
“CEO, there’s a data center building on the market in Hong Kong.”
“Jong-yeop, send an acquisition team.”
“KT says they can lease their Chuncheon data center. Pricey, though.”
“Lease it. Korean services are key.”
“Sweden’s state telecom has a listing. I’ll start negotiations.”
“Yeah. Push to buy.”
Earth Resource moved fast, and they tasked JP Morgan and Goldman Sachs with snapping up more centers too.
In just a month, they’d spent like global giants such as Microsoft or Google would struggle to match.
‘So money really does solve most problems?’
The data centers were not intended only for the Pangea System.
Game streaming alone wouldn’t turn a profit.
As Earth Channel users grew, they cached popular content on local data servers.
Movies and dramas big in each country. High-usage data stored nearby.
Less common stuff like education or documentaries stayed on US servers, optimizing overall speeds.
“We could roll out 4K video from April.”
“Let’s do it. Honestly, our content isn’t that standout.”
Crab Game and Top Gun were the only genuine standouts.
Other dramas were pulling views, but they lacked the edge against rival OTTs.
‘Can’t let it turn into a place where you run out of stuff after a few watches.’
They’d lead with tangible perks like video quality.
Channel 7, handling video streaming and picking up ad revenue, wanted better resolution and streamer tools too.
When business was booming, you doubled down on investment.
‘Feels like I’m a data center mogul now.’
Investing in coins or stocks came with that nail-biting risk of crashes and total wipeouts.
Data centers were stable fixed assets, business expenses.
Pangea cut latency substantially, and it wasn’t targeting only fast-response games anyway.
Oh Myeong-woo declared it like a battle cry.
“We need to capture the mobile gaming market.”
“Yeah, we do.”
“Consoles, PC—gotta grab them all. But mobile revenue dominates.”
Mobile accounted for over 60% of total gaming sales.
Pangea aimed for mobile too.
Cross-platform games playable on PC and phone were the trend.
No installs needed for Pangea—just log in anywhere.
“Target 5G countries as priority. No latency issues on phones.”
Current tech already delivered lag-free mobile gaming.
‘When 5G launched in Korea, I thought phone speeds couldn’t get any faster—what’s the point?’
The world was changing fast.
Even if tech leaps weren’t felt personally, lifestyles had shifted a lot from a few years back.
“What’s for lunch?”
“Craving jjajangmyeon for the first time in ages.”
“Sounds good. Delicious.”
The 100,000-user test ran smoothly.
* * *
―Tried Earth Resource’s Pangea System. It’s insane.
―How so?
―Playing games feels faster than my 1.5 million won rig.
―That good?
―Load times are on another level. Click and it’s running. Gigabyte LAN users say almost no frame drops lol.
―Rocking a 5950X and 2080 Ti here. Warhammer 3 mods cause stutters locally, but zero on Pangea. Blazing fast. Totally satisfied.
―Building cities in a sim game. Gets choppy on my 8-core CPU and 64GB RAM at scale, but Pangea turns it silky smooth. Super responsive.
―Media said FPS games suck?
―Don’t buy media hype. Response is damn quick.
―Gold in Last Survivor. Can’t tell difference from local play. Plenty playable.
User reactions hit the news in real time.
[Earth Resource’s Pangea Launch a Huge Success]
[Testers Report High Satisfaction]
[Environmental Groups Welcome Reduced Power Waste and Resource Drain]
[PC Hardware Stocks Drop Another 6% After Yesterday’s 5% Plunge]
〈“What About Us Retail Investors?” Isung Electronics and Hynix Fall Together〉
[Tears of Retail Investors as Isung Electronics Stock Slides]
Isung Electronics’ Korean shares dropped 16% over two days, sending retail investors into a frenzy.
―Which brokerage said 100k electronics?
―Bought at 89k. Now 70k.
―Faster drop than my building’s elevator lololol
―7 bil in Isung Electronics. Hold for recovery?
―No one knows rn. Whole semi sector’s shaken. Could slide all year.
―Kim Shin hyung might know.
―Hyung said sell all US stocks so I chilled, then came back to “domestic rally” for pocket change. I’m the idiot.
―Wish I could buy Earth Resource stock.
―I’d mortgage my soul for it.
Seon Jae-yong sat in Isung Electronics’ vice chairman office, scrolling through articles and user reactions.
Quietly at first, then cracking smiles now and then.
Soon, he called the semiconductor division president.
“This is Seon Jae-yong. Isung Electronics stock’s down 16.3%.”
―My deepest apologies, Vice Chairman.
“Memory chip prices have tanked hard, right?”
―DRAM spot’s down 15%+, fixed contracts 3%. NAND flash sales prices dropping similarly.
He could feel the div president’s tension over the line.
“What’s the outlook?”
―Earth Resource shock is massive. Shipments of high-margin products will shrink big time.
Winter had hit the chip market.
Seon Jae-yong smiled faintly, his tone grave.
“In times like these, rally the team. Cut unnecessary costs, scout for improvements—turn this into a leapfrog opportunity.”
―We’ll grind to the bone as you say, Vice Chairman.
Hanging up, Seon Jae-yong’s face lit up.
Isung Electronics posted 36 trillion won in operating profit last year.
Gone were the days of betting it all on semis alone. And above all...
‘Derivatives, huh. Quite the thrill.’
He’d trained as Isung Group heir from childhood.
He loved finance as much as management.
Without that innate greed for money, he’d never have claimed the successor spot.
Not just legit ops, but slush funds run in the shadows.
Betting 2 trillion from overseas, tailing Kim Shin, had been his wildest gamble.
‘2 tril to 4.5 tril already.’
In America, Wall Street, this was routine.
Global forex traded 6.6 trillion dollars daily—US finance humbled even Isung’s chair.
“Director Kwon.”
“Yes, Vice Chairman.”
“Expand the domestic care list for CEO Kim Shin one more level.”
“Updated by end of day.”
Isung Biolife’s earnings, the global data-center boom, and his personal wealth were all rising rapidly.
Isung Group would foster a friendly environment for Kim Shin’s distant Korean relatives and holdings.