Chapter 72
Chapter 72
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Translator: Silver Dragon
Chapter: 72
Chapter Title: Byte Line & Expansion
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Ding.
A notification chime rang out, accompanied by a message popping up on the computer monitor.
Tap tap.
Jae-hyuk hammered away at the keyboard to send a reply.
As Jae-hyuk read the message from his friend Dong-jun, he couldn't help but agree.
And how could he not? From his own parents' generation up until just a few years ago, a student playing games was seen as a serious deviance on par with smoking cigarettes.
But lately, the atmosphere had completely changed.
'Hey, don't use that cheater save!'
'No thanks?'
Jae-hyuk recalled the kids he'd seen on his way home from class today.
A group of elementary school-aged children clustered in front of a stationery store, chattering loudly as they played Savior Pulse.
'Not just one kid—most of them have a game console? Does that even make sense?'
Surprisingly, every one of them was holding a Savior Pulse.
Back when Jae-hyuk was a kid, owning a game console was rare enough that maybe one kid in the whole class had one. These days, though, you ran into them everywhere.
Even the sight of people playing Savior Pulse on the subway during rush hour had become an unremarkable, everyday scene.
Ding.
Jae-hyuk checked the file transfer icon that appeared on his monitor alongside the chat.
'What a great world. Transferring files mid-chat.'
He could hardly believe it was real, watching the Byte Word document from his friend Dong-jun arrive after just a short wait.
'All thanks to Savior.'
Just a year ago, getting homework files from a friend meant receiving a floppy disk with the files copied onto it and opening it on your own computer.
Now, a few clicks let you exchange files effortlessly.
And it wasn't an exaggeration to say it was all thanks to Savior.
-For Korea to stand against the world, every home needs a PC and internet.
Korea's PC penetration rate in 1999 stood at an impressive 25%.
Half of the world's highest at 50% in the United States, but higher than other advanced nations.
Even more astonishing was the blistering pace of growth.
Statistics suggested that at this rate, Korea would catch up to the U.S. penetration rate within three years.
And behind this skyrocketing PC adoption was the Korean government.
Truth be told, computers were still luxury items at the time.
With average monthly household income barely topping 1 million won, and branded PCs costing nearly 2 million won, they weren't easy to buy for most families.
So the government rolled out a bold policy.
Selecting manufacturers and providing subsidies to mass-produce standardized budget PCs, allowing citizens to buy one for around 1 million won.
Dubbed the National PC initiative.
And naturally, Savior was a key partner in the government's National PC push.
-For the sake of my beloved homeland Korea, Savior will lead the way in partnering with the government to bring affordable PCs to the masses!
The very computer Jae-hyuk was using had been built with Savior components.
Praise for its performance wasn't just in the media—it was the hot topic on PC communication boards frequented by enthusiasts.
'How the hell do they sell it at this price?'
Thanks to this insane value, rumors spread that not buying a Savior National PC made you an idiot. Demand was so high that you now needed a waitlist ticket to purchase one.
Following the Savior Pulse, Savior PCs and Byte Line were conquering South Korea.
Of course, it wasn't just Korea—the phenomenon was sweeping the world.
"How on earth did you make this?"
"You should ask Savior about that, not me."
"Ha... That guy really is something else. No, calling it 'something' feels like an insult at this point."
IBM.
Just a decade ago, it proudly claimed a top spot among America's best companies. But after the crisis in the early '90s, everyone said it was done for.
Yet astonishingly, by 1999, they had staged a dazzling comeback and were on the verge of reclaiming a place in America's top five companies.
The road ahead wasn't smooth, though.
"Fell, partnering with Antek, is aggressively invading the PC market IBM used to dominate. You just gonna sit there?"
"We're no longer fixated solely on PCs. We're focusing on services, consulting, and software."
"It's not like you chose to abandon it."
Jeffrey, who had taken over as IBM's CEO four years ago amid its decline, eyed the woman provoking him and IBM.
'Should I have offered tens of millions back then?'
Before becoming CEO—back when he was still a director—he had met the woman before him now.
Scarlett, Savior's CAO.
It was at COMDEX, the 1993 software expo in Las Vegas.
She had announced the launch of 'Byte Line,' the office software suite.
Jeffrey, who had been willing to pay millions for Byte Line, couldn't forget Scarlett declaring she wouldn't sell even for ten times that.
And as she said—no, beyond that—Byte Line had exploded in growth.
The Byte Office suite it spawned was now valued at tens of billions of dollars, conservatively.
"What do you want?"
"Partner with us and let's storm the PC market again."
"You make it sound so easy."
"It won't be hard if you join hands with us."
Whew.
Jeffrey let out a sigh despite himself.
In truth, voices within IBM were already rising to gradually exit the PC business and sell it off.
MiniSoft, the top U.S. company by market cap, and Antek, solidly in second.
Both had been born from IBM's PC division.
'We nurtured our own noose-wielding rivals with our own hands.'
IBM had dominated the global PC market in the '80s.
But lacking software and CPU tech, they inevitably partnered up—with MiniSoft and Antek.
Those partners eventually started raking in far more profit than IBM itself.
Thanks to IBM, the two exploded in sales, using that cash to crush competitors with overwhelming margins.
Soon, only those two remained in OS and CPUs.
They leveraged their monopoly to squeeze IBM dry, becoming the trigger for IBM's downfall as profits vanished.
And Antek, which grew to America's No. 2 on IBM's back, ditched them after sucking them dry—partnering with rising star Fell, shocking IBM.
It was no exaggeration to say they'd raised their own enemies.
So it wasn't strange that IBM insiders wanted to shutter the PC division.
And now Savior was proposing a partnership to reenter the PC market.
'Normally, I'd reject it outright...'
For IBM, finally regaining its stature through diversification, it was an obvious no.
But Savior hadn't come empty-handed.
Rustle.
Jeffrey fiddled with the two products in his hand.
Savior Core 1999 and Savior Nova, a CPU and graphics card from Savior.
'I've heard rumors that CEO Seon Woo-hyuk is an alien, but this defies belief.'
The Savior Core, on a 0.18μm process with a 1GHz clock, utterly outclassed Antek's latest budget CPU, Entium 3.
It was comparable only to their top-line Xeon.
And the graphics card performance was at least a generation ahead, the talk of the PC market, leaving Jeffrey stunned.
"Did you know? Since we're collaborating with MiniSoft, both products were designed with their input from the start. They run on Widow OS without a single bug or performance drop—exceeding specs."
"... "
"Plus, being from the same company, compatibility is rock-solid. No issues there."
Jeffrey's hand went to his forehead involuntarily.
'The obvious ploy to grow like Antek using us... but they've played it so well, it's hard to wriggle out.'
Antek might be fading lately, but IBM's PC market clout remained immense.
Distribution networks, factories, over 20 years of know-how.
Partner with IBM, and Savior would soar.
'Antek? That's an insult to Savior.'
Not just Antek-level—Savior could claim America's No. 1 spot.
"I won't deny this deal benefits Savior more. But it's good for IBM too, and above all..."
-Wouldn't partnering with us to stick it to Antek and Fell be worth it?
Jeffrey had to agree with Scarlett's final words.
Antek betrayed them the moment they faltered.
Fell teamed with Antek, surpassing IBM to become the world's top PC maker.
Just landing one on those two made it a worthwhile shake.