Coder Lee Yongho - Chapter 35

When YongHo came back, his expression was serious. At that figure, HyeJin who was next to him became curious.
“Sunbae. Did anything happen?”
“……”
HyeJin never looked at YongHo with that kind of expression before. Even when countless bugs occurred, he didn’t look this serious.
“S, Sunbae?”
However, HyeJin’s voice didn’t reach YongHo’s ears. No, No one’s voice reached his ears. Until HyeJin tapped YongHo’s back saying it was his turn.

In the conference room sat 4 men. Their neatly placed hands and clean shirts seem to tell what kind of life they led.
“Mr. YongHo?”
“Yes.”
“According to our investigation, a different file to the one uploaded on the commercial server could be found on the configuration management server… What do you think about this?”
“The file upload program wasn’t installed by me. If there is anything different to the file on the configuration management server, that’s probably because I directly edited the source on the commercial server and built it.”
“So you are saying you violated the security rules.”
“Sorry?”
“If a program was uploaded onto the server then there must be no further edits. The program must be the same one that was checked by the QA team.’
YongHo didn’t know about this. He felt like someone slapped him on the back of his head.
“……”
“Also, a few testimonies mentioned that Mr. YongHo made file upload program and uploaded it onto the server.”
*Bang*
YongHo slapped both of his hands onto the table as he stood up.
“Who said it? That I did it.”
“This isn’t a problem that will get solved by being angry. Sit down.”
Unlike the angry YongHo, the investigators were calm and composed.
“Is there anything else that you have violated?”
It seemed that they already made the conclusion that it was YongHo’s doing. His head, which was burning up, instantly cooled down.
“Nothing sir.”
“Then you may leave.”
At the investigator’s words, YongHo stood up powerlessly. As he stepped out of the door, the company employees were waiting for their turns while sitting. Amidst them, project manager Jung JunWoo could be seen. Their eyes met but they said nothing.
At that moment, an announcement could be heard from the speaker.
-The cooperating outsourcers, the PM, PL level managers and above, please gather in the main hall immediately.
-I repeat.  The cooperating outsourcers, the PM, PL level managers and above, please gather in the main hall immediately.

***

The main hall which could hold hundreds of people were full with people. On the screen at the front, a PPT slide could be seen.
-Discussing how to solve the problem with new phone activation.
One thing could be learned even with just the title.
A problem has occurred. And they gathered to talk about the solution to the problem. After everyone came in the presenter picked up the mic.
“Nice to meet you, everyone. I’m vice president Go JinSung of KO Telecom.”
At the presenter’s words the noisy hall quieted down. It was a place where the KO Telecom’s vice president showed up himself. Everyone was afraid that he would find fault in them and became quiet.
“Currently, I imagine that everyone should be aware of what kind of problem has occurred. However, a problem that the mass media doesn’t know about has occurred. As seen from the title, there’s an error with the new phones’ activation. We suspect that the hacker group has left this malignant code behind in order to avoid tracing.

The vice president continued presenting for around 20 minutes. The hacker group that leaked customers’ private information left behind a malignant code.
And that code kept interfering with the activation of the phone. He called everyone here in order to find the solution.
There was an even more important piece of information.
Reward of 100 million won (≈85,000USD).
The person who can fix the problem would be rewarded with 100 million won.
“Not only 100 million won, the company affiliated to the person who can fix this will also receive advantages in contracts in the future. So if anyone think they can fix it, then please e-mail the address that’s written on the PPT.”
The vice president finished explaining and the hall once again became noisy with people’s talking. Amidst them,  An ByungHoon and project manager Jung JunWoo were also sitting down.

“General manager, what do we do? Shall we send a mail too?”
“Just stay still. Don’t lose face by stepping up here.”
“But I think it’s worth a try.”
“Can you do it? Do you know how many megabytes the source for activating phones is? And you want to find it now and edit? What will you do when the situation becomes even bigger?”
“I think we can do it with YongHo around.”
“What does an intern know? And YongHo will leave the company soon.”
“What? What do you mean by that?”
An ByungHoon said in surprise as he widened his eyes.
“Didn’t I mention it last time? It’s like that. He will take responsibility for the problem this time and leave the company.”
“How? Didn’t you just say ‘what does an intern know?’ How can he take responsibility?”
Seeming irritated at An ByungHoon’s furious words, General manager Jung also spoke in a louder voice.
“The director told me to. Don’t blame me.”
“Even so……”
“Or you can tell the director yourself. That you were the one who did it. You can take responsibility and take off your clothes.” (Give up your position)
Not wanting to speak anymore, project manager Jung left the hall after that. An ByungHoon took out his phone after seeming distracted for a while.

***

“Manager, isn’t this too ridiculous?”
YongHo said in a repressed tone, trying to vent all his frustration. An ByungHoon couldn’t say anything after he saw YongHo acting like that.
“You know very well how much I contributed to this project.”
“I do. I know very well.”
“And now, they say as if all the responsibility lies within me……”
YongHo tightened his fists in rage. His eyes turned red due to being falsely accused. The current situation was too much for a 27 year-old undergraduate to bear.
“Did you know?”
“…No.”
An ByungHoon didn’t bother explaining the truth. A guilty conscience stabbed his heart.
“Say something to the higher-ups. That I didn’t do it.”
“……”
An ByungHoon silently tapped YongHo’s shoulders. YongHo, who held his head down, abruptly stood up.
“Now’s not the time to do this. I will appeal to the PM once more.”
“Sit.”
“I need to tell him that I didn’t do it.”
“……”
A few passersby glanced at the two who were conversing on the bench. The frustration in YongHo’s voice seemed to be felt by everyone.
*Ring* *Ring*
Not considering YongHo’s mood, An ByungHoon’s phone started ringing. An ByungHoon hesitated whether to pick it up or not.
“You have to answer. It’s not even your fault… You don’t have to be so sorry.”
At YongHo’s words, An ByungHoon answered the call but didn’t talk for too long. He just said ‘Yes’ a few times but it didn’t seem that there was much content.
An ByungHoon stood up after ending the call.
“We need to go, Come with me.”
“You know very well that this is not that kind of situation.”
“That’s why I’m saying we need to go.”
“Where?”
“Seolleung.”
“Seolleung?”
“Yes. The server room in Seolleung.”
An ByungHoon pulled YongHo’s arm up to make him stand. YongHo, who didn’t understand anything, could only follow, dragged by An ByungHoon’s hands.

***

The atmosphere in the Seolleung server room seemed serious even from the entrance. Men in black suits searched each of the person one by one. An ByungHoon, who walked towards the entrance, took out his ID card and revealed his name.
“An ByungHoon.”
The man guided An ByungHoon to the server room after confirming the ID card. Entering the server room, the man who did the presentation was occupying a seat.
It was KO Telecom’s vice president Go JinSung.
“Nice to meet you. Vice president Go JinSung.”
“An ByungHoon from Mirae IT.”
“An anonymous person told me of your skills via e-mail. And I looked up and it seems like you are quite skilled so I contacted you. I heard you were an open source contributor…….”
“You flatter me.”
Go JinSung turned his head to look at YongHo, who felt like he shouldn’t be here.
“But who is……”
“Lee YongHo, who will solve the program with me this time. YongHo, greet him. He’s the vice president of KO Telecom.”
Vice president.
It wasn’t some general manager and it was the vice president. It was the person with the highest authority YongHo met in his life. His hands involuntarily shivered due to nervousness.
“Nice to meet you.”
“Good day to you sir. My name is Lee YongHo.”
His voice involuntarily tensed. The frustrated tone from until a moment ago disappeared altogether.
“This is really urgent so I will leave it to you.”
Even now, various chain stores were querying about the phone activation. It was no wonder the reward was 100 million won.
“I understand.”

In a corner of the server room, YongHo sat in front of a computer while looking at An ByungHoon curiously.
“I will say it shortly. Currently, the KO Telecom’s phones aren’t activating due to an error. We need to fix that, and the reward is 100 million. You can do it, right?”
“……”
“Can you do it or not.”
“What’s in it for me?”
“If you manage to get the reward, of course the responsibilities you have to take may be nullified.”
“Really?”
“Yes. The vice president from just now offered a reward of 100 million won.”
“I really won’t have to take responsibility?”
“That……”
At An ByungHoon’s reaction, YongHo stopped to think. However, he eventually decided. He didn’t have a reason to stay in this company as soon as the PM shifted the blame to him.
Reward of 100 million.
That was enough of a reason to do this.
“I understand. I will do it.”
“You’ve decided well.”
YongHo and An ByungHoon paid attention to the man who managed the phone activation related programs. On one hand, YongHo kept looking out for the bug window. The bug was as good as fixed as soon as it pops up in the bug window.