Coding, Part 2

That afternoon.

Reporters from various newspapers and broadcasting stations visited the school for interviews.

Unlike the minor outlets that had covered the ceremony at Wondong Paper, these were mostly major, well-known media companies.

The kind of names that would make anyone go, "Ah, I've heard of them."

"Could you please state your name and give us a brief introduction?"

"My name is Ji Hyunwoo. And..."

The interview questions were as predictable as ever.

"How did you study?"

"Did you expect to get a perfect score after finishing the CSAT?"

I gave appropriately generic answers, and the interview proceeded smoothly.

However, my answer regarding my future plans seemed to strike them as unusual. The reporters paused, momentarily lost for words.

"With a perfect score, you can apply to almost any school you want. Which university and department are you hoping to enter?"

‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠

"I plan to apply to the Department of Technology Management at KAIST."

"KAIST?"

"Hmm."

A follow-up question quickly followed.

"Perfect scorers usually apply to Hankuk University. Is there a particular reason you want to go to KAIST?"

"Because it's the top science and engineering university. I've always been interested in business driven by science and technology. In fact, currently..."

I trailed off intentionally, letting the silence linger.

Once I had the reporters' undivided attention, I spoke.

"...I am already running my own business."

The reporters looked bewildered.

"A business?"

"Are you saying you're currently running a business as a student?"

"Yes."

Their immediate reaction was surprise, followed by a sudden spark of excitement over potential page views. They could smell a viral story.

Sensing a scoop, the excited reporters leaned in, their eyes gleaming.

"What is the name of the company?"

"What kind of technology does your business use?"

"Could you tell us what your revenue looks like?"

I answered their barrage of questions one by one.

And inwardly, I smiled.

Everything is going exactly as planned.

"I'll answer them one by one. First, the company's name is God Tech, and..."

Soon after the interview ended, the articles began to pop up online.

Since it was about a student getting a perfect score on one of the hardest CSATs in history, media outlets raced to publish their pieces.

On top of that, the articles contained a highly sensational twist that set them apart from typical CSAT stories.

The view counts on those articles skyrocketed.

Before long, they made the front page of major portal sites.

It worked.

My Karma began to rise rapidly. And in massive quantities.

It was the result of the positive influence I exerted on the people reading the articles—whether they felt amazed, amused, or inspired.

Because it was an indirect effect, the Karma gained per person was small, but the sheer volume of readers made up for it.

When aggregated, the numbers looked substantial.

Thanks to this, my total accumulated Karma quickly surpassed 100,000.

Just then, my phone rang.

Buzz—

"Yes, Father."

-Son! I heard you got a perfect score on the CSAT?!

The moment I answered, my father practically shouted into the receiver.

"That's right. How did you find out?"

-What do you mean, how? The articles are all over the internet! My coworkers saw them and told me!

"Ah..."

-Haha! Congratulations! To think my son is the one who got a perfect score! Your dad is a total celebrity at work right now!

"Haha."

-Oh, right! I'm still on the clock, so I have to hang up!

Click.

Not long after I hung up with my father, the phone buzzed again.

Buzz—

This time, it was my mother.

-Son!!! Is it true you got a perfect score?!!!

"Yes. How did you know?"

She was probably alone in the office.

-The lady from the real estate agency next door told me! She said you even did an interview! Congratulations, sweetheart! I'm so proud of you!

"Thank you, Mom."

-But honestly! Why do we always find out so late? Even back in school, you'd only tell us your grades after you got home! Does it make sense that I have to hear about my own son's CSAT scores from someone else?!

"Ahaha... I wanted to surprise you."

I had wanted to make the moment even more special for them.

-Hearing it over the phone is plenty surprising! Do you have any idea how shocked I was when the lady next door told me?!

"Ah..."

To be fair, my parents knew today was the day the scores were released, so they must have been anxiously waiting for my call.

They probably hesitated to call first, not wanting to pressure me.

-Anyway, congratulations! I'm so proud of you, and I love you! I'll see you at home in a bit!

"Yes, Mom."

A few hours passed.

"Son!"

"We're home!"

Having arrived home first, I greeted my parents as they walked through the door.

"Welcome back."

"Yes, yes. How have you been?"

"More importantly, where's the report card?"

"I ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠want to see it too. Hurry, show us."

"Here it is."

I handed the report card to my parents.

It showed a straight row of 1st-tier ranks and a percentile of 100 across the board.

"Oh! So this is what a perfect score looks like!"

"Look at how clean those numbers are!"

"Ones all the way down!"

"Hundreds across the board!"

My parents stared at the report card in awe for a moment.

"Aaaah! Son! Let me give you a hug!"

"Huh?"

My father suddenly pulled me into a tight embrace.

Uh...

I was a bit flustered, but since my father was often prone to sudden bursts of affection, I went along with it.

"Me too!"

My mother cried out excitedly.

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She stepped forward.

And wrapped her arms around me as well.

Several more days passed.

During that time, my Karma continued to climb at a steep angle.

Notifications kept popping up, and every morning I woke up to find the total had jumped significantly.

I had finally broken past the 400,000 Karma mark.

It worked.

This had been my plan all along.

To secure a perfect score on the CSAT, and then use the routine interview to draw attention by bringing up my business.

If I had just given typical answers about how I studied, I wouldn't have gathered nearly this much Karma.

But by feeding the reporters that specific hook, I had drawn massive public interest.

Now, it's time to acquire the new technology.

In the meantime, I had invested my time in coding a translation program myself to familiarize myself with the underlying technology.

I had even polished it to a level where it could actually be launched as a service.

Because I had poured so much effort into it after the CSAT, the Karma required for the technology I wanted had decreased significantly.

What originally cost 800,000 Karma had dropped by more than half, down to 380,000.

NeuralScript was a programming language specialized in implementing artificial intelligence that mirrored the cognitive structure of intelligent life.

Particularly in the domain of communication.

In other words, it was the perfect language for the translation program I wanted to build.

A technology that was, for all intents and purposes, decades ahead of its time.

Therefore...

Unlock the knowledge of NeuralScript.

Yes.

Normally, the knowledge would flow directly into my mind, but a new prompt appeared.

A language patch?

I paused, recalling the information I had previously gathered about this skill.

Technologies like this were built on programming languages from other worlds. If I unlocked it as-is, I wouldn't be able to comprehend it, so the system offered to patch it into an Earth language.

How convenient.

For the Actiflo cultivation technology, this process had been applied automatically.

Since it was a one-time process, the system had simply translated it into Korean, my most familiar language, with some English terminology where necessary.

However, this time, it wasn't a single piece of technology but a tool—a programming language. The language I chose to receive it in would make a significant difference in how I used it.

After all, the dominant programming languages of our world are based on English.

Choosing English would increase its compatibility and versatility.

On the other hand, Korean was the language I was most comfortable with, making it much easier for me to write code.

Hmm...

Normally, when a new programming language is developed, it is shared on the internet.

This allows developers to collaborate, improve the language itself, and build an open-source ecosystem by sharing pre-written source code.

Through this collaborative process, the language becomes much easier to use.

This was why the dominant programming languages were all based on English, the de facto global language.

But in that case, there's no real need to choose English.

Remembering a specific detail about the skill, I made my decision.

I'll go with Korean.

In that instant...

Whoosh!

A massive torrent of knowledge rushed into my mind like a raging storm.

In the brief moment it took to blink.

Blink.

I suddenly understood the language of NeuralScript.

Ugh, my head hurts a bit.

The sheer volume and depth of the information were overwhelming.

While the Actiflo cultivation technology had been just a step forward from existing Earth science, this was a technology at the absolute peak of what could be conceptualized on Earth.

Whew... But it's definitely incredible.

Just skimming the vast knowledge now residing in my mind was enough to tell me that.

Compared to Earth's existing programming languages, this language was far more precise in some aspects, and in others, its core logic operated on an entirely different paradigm of thought.

It made things possible that were currently deemed impossible.

And it even comes with various open-source resources.

My mind now held not just the syntax of NeuralScript, but also a wealth of related open-source materials.

This included source codes, libraries, and frameworks.

The accumulated knowledge of developers from the world where this language originated had been transferred directly to me.

Of course, implementing and utilizing all of this would still require some effort on my part.

But with all this already in my head, I don't need to share this language with anyone else.

Now that I had acquired the base language to build the translation program...

Shall I...

...start coding?