The God of Coding, Becoming an IT Conglomerate

13. The day Hangeul was released

It was a long flight of 14 hours, but the fatigue was less than expected.

The time is 10 am.

Maybe it was because I slept soundly while coding on the plane, so I didn’t feel the jet lag too much.

I went back to the boarding house, unpacked my things, called my mother to say that I was back, and headed straight to school.

‘Finish Hangeul 1.0 as soon as I go back to school.’

Hoyeong made a promise to herself and moved on.

It was a school that I came back to in less than a week, but I had the illusion that I was coming back after a really long time.

‘How far has the finishing stage been?’

Finalization of programming is, after all, the process of catching all errors.

It goes without saying that all bugs should be corrected at the coding stage so that it runs without problems.

In addition, it is a process of testing in which situations bugs occur and fixing them one by one when they occur.

The program is really hard to finish.

It was even called ‘Nogada’.

It was to run the program, experiment with all possible cases, and find out whether or not an error occurred in that case.

Later, it was so important that beta testers were recruited, and even a separate job called program tester was created.

In fact, this method could be called the most ignorant and sure way.

It is to change the time to improve the completeness of the program.

If you become a programmer like Ho Young, you may feel awkward just reading the code.

That’s why the speed of review and fix is dramatically faster than others.

‘I wish I could use Gaia.’

Hoyeong looked at Gaia on her left wrist.

If it is Gaia’s artificial intelligence, it is not that difficult to experiment with various variables and find errors. However, there was no way to transmit data to Gaia yet.

‘The release schedule of wireless data communication technology should be further advanced.’

In order to properly utilize Gaia, wireless data communication or Wi-Fi technology had to develop as quickly as possible. Hiding my regret, I continued thinking again.

‘Windows 3.0 was released in 1990. Even if we go into development right now, it’s tight.’

It was after the release of Windows 3.0 that Microsoft took off in earnest.

At least in time to face Microsoft, it had to start now.

While he was calculating this and that in his head, Ho-young arrived at the computer research club’s room before he knew it.

“Seniors, I’m here.”

Hoyoung opened the door and said, but no one answered.

Even though the curtains were drawn, the lights were off so I couldn’t see anything.

Embarrassed, Hoyeong looked at her watch, and it was still 11:00 AM.

“Where has everyone gone?”

Hoyoung fumbled along the wall and turned on the fluorescent light switch.

“Huh?”

When the lights came on, Hoyoung gasped in gasps in surprise.

In the corner of the club room, where there was no one there, the four seniors Ho-young was looking for were sleeping on the floor with only a thin blanket spread.

“Umm… Who… is it Hoyeong?”

Lee Jin-chan rubbed his sleepy eyes and stood up.

“Why are you all sleeping here?”

“Is today already the day you return?”

“Did you stay up all night?”

“I didn’t wake up to stay up all night, but since I saw the end, I couldn’t sleep at all. Haam.”

Lee Jin-chan yawned as if he was still tired.

“How many days have you been there?”

“Two days… three days? I wanted to finish it before you came. I finally finished it, about an hour or two ago?”

“……”

Seeing Hoyeong unable to speak, Lee Jinchan smiled and lay down again.

“First of all, I’ve finished the Korean language, so please check it. We want to sleep until tomorrow morning, right?”

“Sure. You should go to sleep.”

Lee Jin-chan fell asleep again.

Hoyeong turned on Jinchan Lee’s computer and tried to run the finished product of Hangeul 1.0.

White letters on a blue background.

In the center of the screen, the title [Hangeul 1.0] is large.

In fact, Hangul 1.0 was nothing like Hangul 2.0, which would come out a few years later by adding a printer connection function, comment processing function, and font size change function.

Hoyoung tested this and that, but couldn’t find any visible flaws.

When I opened the source and checked it, I couldn’t find anything that was too awkward.

“Seniors…”

I looked at the sleeping seniors.

In fact, could we match the timing just a little while ago? I had a suspicion that

But not now.

I was convinced that if I worked with people who were passionate enough to voluntarily give up even sleep and program, I would definitely be able to succeed.

.

.

.

The next move was a breeze.

It was decided to distribute the initial distribution by copying it to a floppy disk.

Administrative handling such as trademark registration and copyright registration was handled by Lee Jin-chan, and Woo Hyung-jin was in charge of coordinating sales with Sewoon Shopping Mall.

The process was as seamless as an open highway.

The initial sale price was decided to proceed at 25,000 won.

Lee Jin-chan strongly insisted on 47,000 won, but Ho-young wanted to sell Hangeul 1.0 at an appropriate price so that as many users as possible could use it, as he wanted to focus most on spreading the name of Hangeul and people.

The day that even the release date of Hangeul was decided.

The computer research club members gathered in the club room for the first time in a long time after completing their external work.

“The reason I asked you to gather today is not different.”

When Hoyoung spoke, everyone paid attention to Hoyoung.

Although Lee Jin-chan was sitting at the top of the table, Ho-yeong was the actual leader.

“Hangeul 1.0 is now just waiting for release. I have no doubts about success in this case. So, I think the time has come to implement our next goal.”

At Hoyoung’s words, everyone remained silent for a while.

For some reason, everyone was reluctant to speak, as if they were saying something they shouldn’t have said.

“You mean the operating system?”

“you’re right.”

The four people sitting here had previously heard about the next-generation operating system planned by Hoyoung.

However, it was not an easy decision for everyone.

The period of making an operating system is not a day or two.

It took nearly two years just to produce Hangeul 1.0, a word processor.

At least a year was shortened because Ho-yeong came in, but if only the four of us made it, it could have been made in three years.

Even more, an operating system is larger if it is larger than a word processor, but never smaller.

Lee Chan-jin is already a 4th grader, and the rest are also 2nd graders and two 3rd graders.

Now is the time to prepare for graduation and think about finding a job.

“Actually, it’s a burden to me.”

Lee Jin-chan spoke first.

He was graduating next year right away.

“Even at this moment, I’m thinking about. Where should I prepare for a job from now on, or should I start a business by setting up a company based on Hangeul 1.0 that we created…”

The other three also shook their heads.

They will all be of the same mind.

However, Hoyoung knew the future of the four people sitting here.

Lee Jin-chan and Kim Taek-jin start their own businesses, and the other two also contribute to the creation of the company and occupy a position in the newly created company.

After all, everyone has aspirations for business.

Hoyoung was going to light a fire in his heart.

“There are people who want to invest in us.”

“what? investment?!”

Lee Jin-chan and Kim Jin-taek stood up from their seats and said.

“who?”

“Do you want to invest in Hangeul and people?”

Hoyoung restrained the excited seniors.

“calm down. I will tell you everything slowly.”

Hoyeong handed over the wad of paper she had prepared.

“First, the investor is someone I met in the US. During a conversation with a businessman I met by chance in the US, a story about a next-generation operating system I envisioned came up, and he was very interested in the operating system.”

“You are interested in making an operating system, not Korean?”

“That’s right.”

“Who is that person?”

“The exact name was not given. He said that he was reluctant to reveal his name when he originally invested. Instead, they gave me the name of the corporation. I am the representative of the investment corporation.”

“An investment corporation?”

“This is a company called Gaia Investment.”

At Hoyoung’s words, the seniors couldn’t agree at once.

“How can you trust and invest in someone you don’t know the name of? What if it’s strange money? Like illegal money.”

“I also tried every method available in the United States to find out.”

“By the way?”

“The legality of the investment is guaranteed by Smith & Watsons, a famous law firm in Dallas, and the financial guarantee is guaranteed by Eric, a first-tier investor in JP Morgan.”

The seniors nodded their heads at Hoyeong’s words.

“If the law firm is JP Morgan… At least it’s unlikely to be a scam, right?”

“Well, we’re not paying for it, we’re getting it.”

“The documents I gave you a while ago contain the conditions they want.”

Everyone looked at the paper Hoyoung gave them.

“The initial investment amount was 1 billion won. And you want 40% of the stake?”

“yes. And we have additional investment clauses depending on our performance. It is just an additional investment without adjusting the stake.”

Lee Jin-chan listened to Ho-yeong and nodded.

“Is the pie to be brought bigger anyway?”

“yes. The more we grow, the bigger the profit when we sell our 40% stake later.”

“okay. In that case, we decided to split the stake equally, so each 12%. The five of us together account for 60%, so there will be no problem with management rights.”

“you’re right. If we all get together, we can own 60% of the shares, so even Gaia can’t interfere with the management.”

“okay?”

Everyone breathed a sigh of relief when he said that he could not interfere with management.

“So, are we going to start a business together?”

“They said they would invest 1 billion. If it doesn’t work out, everyone can share even 200 million each.”

“Are you all going to do it?”

“okay. If we ever want to get out of the business later, we just have to sell our shares to ourselves. Is not it?”

Hoyeong took out another bundle of papers and handed them out to everyone.

“The document you see now is the implementation of a draft of the operating system we are supposed to create.”

“operating system?”

“yes. Until now, in my spare time, I have envisioned the big frame.”

Like students who fell in love with programming, they quickly fell in love with the operating system draft given by Hoyoung.

“As per the proposal here, all systems operate with a GUI?”

“Then you won’t have to memorize and input commands anymore?”

“The ability to multitask has developed dramatically, and resource management is excellent.”

While everyone was talking about the operating system, Hoyoung took out the third piece of paper from his bag.

“ruler. Then it is a contract.”

“What, did you even bring the contract?”

“I was counting on everyone to agree.”

Unlike a few months ago, the club members obediently signed the contract.

“Then, the company name will be Hangeul and people, as originally planned. And can Jin-chan senpai take over as the representative?”

“me?”

Lee Chan-jin pointed at himself as if he didn’t understand why, but deep down he wasn’t Ho-young, who didn’t know that he thought he was the representative of Hangeul and people.

“You’re graduating next year, right? We have to go to school more. And I know absolutely nothing about management.”

Except for Chanjin, all other club members agreed that Chanjin would become the representative.

“I became the company representative in a club room overnight. I feel something strange.”

“Seniors. I’m sorry if I suddenly brought up a story like this and offended you.”

“Absolutely not like that. just a bit… okay. I will work hard as much as everyone believes in me. I wish you well.”

Five young men joined hands.

As a result, Hoyoung took a 52% stake in Hangeul and People.

Now, you don’t have to worry about defending your management rights, you just need to rush towards your goal.

Hoyoung knew how lightly people who had stakes would take a club or small group into a business.

Representatively, Apple’s Wozniak was like that, and many other companies also collapsed due to the co-founder’s thoughtless share outflow. That’s why he had no choice but to secure a majority stake by bringing up the investment story like this.

Step by step, starting with small things, but absolutely perfect with no gaps.

Hoyoung was firmly laying the groundwork to dominate the Korean IT market.