Coder Lee Yongho - Chapter 49

“So the committer was Mr.Son SeokHo.”
“I was surprised too. I don’t think we would meet in this kind of situation.”
“There’s maut’s committer on your side, so it seems it will be difficult for us to win this contract this time.”
“Haha. You said you were YongHo’s previous superior?”
Son SeokHo seemed more interested in YongHo and An ByungHoon’s relationship than the project.
And YongHo answered him.
“Oh, yes. He was very good to me. Thanks to manager An, I learned a lot during my intern days.”
“YongHo studied hard. Instead, it was our company which received a lot… but I think they weren’t fated for each other.”
“Yeah. I think I understand Mirae IT better now, to let go of a talent like this.”
Son SeokHo couldn’t hide his pride when he said ‘talent’.
He received recognition from an open source contributor, and now, from an open source committer.
Although he had the help from the bug window, he worked hard in order to not embarrass himself.
“That’s true……”
An ByungHoon’s disappointed voice made YongHo curl his lips. The feeling that the hard work until now was not in vain enveloped him.

***

*Plop*
A bunch of A4 papers which Jeong JinHoon threw danced in the air before plopping on the floor.
“Why did you bring this trash?”
Even with Jeong JinHoon’s audacious act, the faces of Kim ManHo and another important person from Mirae IT, who were sitting on chairs for guests, were both expressionless.
Who was in a superior position(gab), and who was in the inferior position(eul) was obvious from the positions of their seat.
Jeong JinHoon, who sat at the top seat.
And Mirae IT who sat below him.
“……”
“I treat people with ability like they should be treated. And I treat people without ability how they should be treated too.”
No one spoke back at Jeong JinHoon’s words. No one could talk back to Jeong JinHoon, the first-in-line for succeeding the Shinseki CEO’s position.
“I will watch until the end.”

*Flap*
Cursing.
It was Kim ManHo’s way of relieving the humiliation he received in Jeong JinHoon’s office.
“I thought there was no flaw?”
“I am sorry, sir.”
“You’re an employee in an IT company, yet you don’t know what an open source committer is?”
“I didn’t expect maut’s committer to be under Jeong DanBi……”
The man who looked down, couldn’t raise his head. A few of the sheets of paper which were flying in the air, landed on the man’s head.
At that figure, Kim ManHo seemed to have calmed down a bit, and continued speaking.
“You know that the interim report, is just the interim report, right?”
“Yes.”
“Yes. If the result is good, then all is well. Don’t let something like today’s events happen when competing for the real sales.”
“I understand.”
Only then could the man raise his head and exit Kim ManHo’s office. The sheets of paper on top of the man’s head fell down.
PS System interim report.
These were the words written on top of that paper.

***

“Dave! Dave!”
At his colleague’s surprised voice, Dave turned his head.
“Why? What is it?”
“Did you check the Leaderboard?”
“No, I didn’t check today.”
Dave’s colleague was stuttering due to surprise. At that figure, Dave’s curiosity increased and he urged on.
“What is it?”
“10%, 10% has appeared.”
“What? Where?”
What 10% referred to, Dave realized straight away. It was the number he wanted to death.
He himself was feeling the limit.
He felt that just with the team members of The Dessert, he couldn’t break that 10% barrier.
Even 9.8% which they achieved now, was like a miracle
But a team that broke that wall had appeared.
“They are called Shinseki Maut, have you ever heard of them?”
“It’s the first time I’ve heard of them……”
“I looked up but they were never in the rankings.”
“That means, did some teams in the rankings unite?”
Dave spoke of the most plausible possibility. He didn’t want to believe that a private team, not a united one, had broken that 10% wall.
His pride as a senior data engineer of the company ‘Jungle’ which has the world-best recommendation system.
“It doesn’t seem like that. If that was true, then some teams should have disappeared on the rankings but it’s the same. They just got pushed back by one rank.”
“No way.”
Dave muttered as if he couldn’t believe it.
The unsurpassable wall, 10%.
Even the host didn’t have a set standard when announcing this number. It coincidentally became the number which provoked people’s challenging hearts.
It seemed like they could reach it, but the 10% wasn’t easy to achieve for the programmers.
And that continued for 5 years. There was no team that received the Grand Prize for the NetFlax Prize in the for 5 years.
The prize for first place was 1 million dollars, but if one could go beyond 10%, then they would receive the Grand Prize of 2 million.
“Let’s contact the other teams, just in case that the other teams DID unite.”
The mail sent from Seattle, America, had spread throughout the world.

***

It was the second time.
The feeling of the hand, which gave YongHo an experience he could never forget, swept over him again. It was just a handshake, but YongHo’s head buzzed as if he was electrocuted.
“Thanks for your hard work. And thank you.”
“It’s nothing. It’s all because of head researcher Son.”
Son SeokHo waved his hand at YongHo’s humbleness. And placed his hands on each of YongHo’s shoulder.
“What are you saying? This result is 100% due to your efforts alone, Mr. YongHo.”
“Whatever it is, thanks for your hard work. You look really tired… but our situation isn’t that good so I will give you vacation as soon as this project ends.”
Jeong DanBi sorrily said. They crushed Mirae IT’s noses in the paper competition but the reality was harsh.
The system wasn’t working. And there was only 2 weeks until the system opening.
They were testing using Shinseki’s online shopping website, the Shinseki Mall, but the data provided by the website was all fake data.
It was not the data that the PS System, made by Jeong DanBi’s team, produced, but the test data that was alternating between each other.
“Team leader, are you planning to put YongHo into the PS System?”
“Yes. I pushed the NetFlax Prize as a stage for implementing the PS System. He showed results in the NetFlax Prize, so of course I have to put him in there.”
“The final result isn’t announce yet. Another team may submit something with a higher percentage, too. And putting Mr.YongHo into the PS System as it is right now, is no different to telling him to die. I can’t give you YongHo to work on that stinking system.”
Son SeokHo went against Jeong DanBi strongly. YongHo worked until now without even sleeping properly. He was about to rest since he produced results, but now he was about to work on implementing the PS System.
Moreover, the PS System had the wrong design from the beginning. Even the best technician would need time to change the system.
“Head researcher Son, the leader of this team is me.”
“And so?”
Son SeokHo was on the offense. His always-eating-sweet-bean-bread figure was all but gone.
“Head researcher.”
And Jeong DanBi knew that so she couldn’t really say anymore.
“Head researcher, I’m quite alright. Other people are having a hard time. So I can’t just leave them alone right?”
“It’s alright for Mr.YongHo to have a rest. And if the reason for you to go to this company is money, then don’t worry about it anymore. If it’s 10%, the prize will increase to 2 million dollars, and 1 million dollars is your share. The rest should be given to our colleagues since they worked hard too.”
“2, 2 million dollars?”
“Yes. So in our currency, that’s about 2 billion won. So you don’t have to bow down your head to unreasonable requests.”
As Son SeokHo’s words continued, Jeong DanBi’s face creased. She was still in the first half of her 20s and although it could be said that she had an open mind, it wasn’t as free as Son SeokHo, who was a member of a conglomerate.
“Head researcher Son.”
From Jeong DanBi’s call to Son SeokHo, YongHo could feel indications of disorder. YongHo urgently opened his mouth, since he didn’t want to see two people who he had good opinions of, fighting each other.
“I, I’ll do it. We’re a team. We need to help each other.”
At YongHo’s words, Son SeokHo widened his eyes.
“So he says?”
Night time work had already become a habit. Leaving early, instead, was awkward.

***

Fire sparked in the blue eyes.
The name Shinseki Maut on the Leaderboard.
And his team which was right below that, The Dessert.
Dave seemed to have stayed up for nights, since his head was all oily and messy, and on one side of the desk, there was a dried out piece of pizza, telling the flow of time.
Dave, who was looking at the monitor, searched around on the desk, and picked the piece of pizza.
*Snatch*
But there was a hand that snatched Dave’s wrist.
“You didn’t go home?”
“Huh, Oh? Jessie.”
“I knew you would be hear. Aren’t you going home?”
“Wow. it’s great. It’s been quite a while since I was this excited.”
“What is.”
“10%! How the hell did they make it? There was no team in the last 5 years who achieved 10% in the NetFlax Prize. What kind of algorithms did the maut team use?”
Dave’s voice was full of curiosity. He seemed to have stayed the night awake but he didn’t look exhausted at all.
Instead, he was drenched in curiosity to know even a bit sooner.
“It’s that again? Even James is crazy. Well, that must be why you’re so close to each other.”
“Think about it, Jessie! It’s 10%! It was known as the wall of impossibility. And someone achieved it! Aren’t you curious?”
At Dave’s excitement, Jessie could only raise both of her hands as if she gave up.
“Then contact that team or something.”
“Shall I? N, No. That’s too easy. It’s a competition after all. I think we need to unite with the other teams.”
“Unite?”
“I even thought up of a team name: The Dark Forces!”
“What? Isn’t that too villain-ish?”
“We became the villains, alright. We are trying to achieve what they did alone, by uniting. It’s interesting, right? A few teams already contacted us. There were a lot of contents we could use…”
“*Sigh*… Who can stop you. So? What do I need to do?”
“First, look at the thing sent by Grand Prize United. I already uploaded it on JIRA.”
Jessie rolled up her sleeves and sat next to Dave. The two focused on their work for hours without saying a word.