Chapter 51
Currently, I had around 2 . 2 billion Yen in my bank account . My financial situation hadn’t changed much from when I first arrive at this era .
I had invested in over six premium shops in New York City, as well as sponsoring the cartridge production for Dragon Emblem with my money . Although the game was a huge success, it was hard for me to see any noticeable returns .
Thankfully, I was able to procure some profits for myself with the specialty chip which improved the Family’s capabilities that Chandra had invented .
I was in the same financial situation from back then, but I built up an excellent social presence as well as a vast business network that allowed me to recruit MIT engineering majors…
Would I be unhappy?
“Aren’t you the elated one, Director Kang!”
“Is it obvious?”
“Very much so . ”
“Ah~ I should head back to the office and work on my facial expressions then . Miss Elise, you have to keep today’s events a secret from Mr . Yamashita and Mr . Gunpei . ”
“もちろん、カン監督” (Of course, Director . )
“Oh~ Your accent is great!”
“After you flew back to Japan, I’ve been practicing Japanese by myself [relentlessly] . ”
“Do you still want to work at the Mintendo HQ?”
“Of course . I’m still learning Japanese so maybe in 1~2 years? I do want to be employed at the HQ as soon as possible, if it wasn’t for Mr . Yamashita and James…”
“James?”
“Ah, he’s my boyfriend . Also, I have a dinner planned with him today, do you want to come with us?”
“Me? Eyy~ I’m good . I don’t want to be the third wheel b*stard intruding on your date . ”
“He’s not the type to care about that, not to mention me . It’s fine!”
No, I’m not fine…
As I politely refused her offer with an awkward smile, Elise did not ask anymore .
&
“Then, I’ll see you tomorrow, Director Kang~ . ”
“Drive safely, Miss Elise . I hope your date goes well~ . ”
Vroom~
After dropping me off in front of Mr . Wilson’s store, Elise immediately steered her car to the departing lane and drove off .
I stared at the back of Elise’s car until it disappeared before turning my head around to look at Mr . Wilson’s store . As it was the holiday season, there were many bustling customers inside the store .
A crowd was gathered around the experimental trial station near the display window, trying out our various games . Amongst them, a few were able to clear the stages and were happily holding the corresponding prizes .
Morita’s illustrations were especially popular as one of the prizes; He’d love to hear about this when I go back to Japan .
&
Dawn . I borrowed a car from Mr . Yamashita and visited MIT .
The distance from New York to Boston was around 350km . It wasn’t a short ride by any means, but I felt the necessity to oversee the development, so I could better explain it to Chandra .
Thankfully, MIT did not restrict outsiders from entering; I was able to find my way into the ‘Hack+’ club room without much trouble .
The 7 members from yesterday were gathered around a table holding a meeting .
After all, inventing a computer part from scratch wasn’t an easy task . The very first step was constructing a blueprint for the development goals .
“Ah, hello again . ”
As I entered the room, 7 different pairs of eyes immediately focused onto me . A few shifted their gazes to my backside . Were they looking for Elise? Unfortunately, Elise was currently working with Mr . Yamashita .
“Is he our patron? He looks be around the same age as us . Does he know how to speak English?”
“Yeah, don’t worry . He’s really good . ”
John reintroduced me to everyone again . The average age of the students was in their early 20s, so my physical body was a little older . However, I became friendly with them after a few conversations .
As the meeting resumed, I sat down in a corner and began to take notes .
“As John said earlier, I agree that we would need an independent memory for a device that would lessen the burden on the CPU . If both the CPU and our VGA were sharing a single memory, it’s bound to overload . ”
“The price of production would increase, but we have no choice but to add a separate memory to decrease the load on the CPU . Before we draw the outline, let’s run through the logistics . ”
In response to Rob’s statement, I tilted my head and asked .
“Already? You guys haven’t bought the necessary parts yet . ”
“What are you talking about, the materials are already here . ”
Rob pointed at the pile of computer parts in the corner of the room and flashed a grin . Contrary to my expectation, the method they came up with was simple . I thought these MIT geniuses would think up some extraordinary development method, but the first plan proposed by Rob was utilizing 2 computers .
It was the “brute force method” but was nonetheless effective . By linking two motherboards together, one would be used to handle the CPU while the other would render the graphics . With this, both motherboards would be able to utilize the 1 MB of memory independently . But would it be this easy?
Even if the two motherboards were connected, a ‘driver’ to configure the memory card to graphic rendering was needed .
This was their first hurdle; They needed to rewrite the Bios setting for the memory to be optimized for graphics rendering .
“This isn’t going to be easy . We should set up the Bios first before we draw out our next plan . ”
The other team members nodded to Rob’s words before adding in their own comments . If Chandra were here, he would’ve been able to exchange ideas with the team . What a shame…
&
Like that, 10 days had passed .
“Hey… it’s working!”
As Jack shouted out, the members and I who were inside our sleeping bags rubbed our eyes open . During the past 10 days of me working with them on the graphic driver, I had adopted their exact lifestyle .
“It is!! F*ck!!”
“Wh, What!? What’s working?”
I jumped down from my bed and took a look at the monitor . On display was 2 pyramid-shaped polygons which were spinning in a clockwise direction, albeit with a bit of static .
“Oh!! F*ck!! Jesus Christ!!”
Shouts of joy exploded from all around the room as various figures erupted from their sleeping bags and rushed towards the monitor . The connected PCs were operating as a single unit with two independent memories .
We huddled together and pranced around like the seven dwarves from Snow white . The graphic might’ve looked pathetic to the moderners, but this was a huge step forward for us . But our joy was short-lived… As we were whooping and hooting, Rob looked at the graphic rendering motherboard with a serious expression and opened his mouth .
“But how are we going to reduce an entire computer to the size of a chip?”
The room turned silent . Now… the joyful mood was gone . Was it time to bring up the “magical” bonus compensation talk?
&
Yet another 2 weeks had passed…
After dinner, I was playing a 3:3 basketball match with the team . We had figured out a general outline for the 3D rendering chip, but there was still too much work . They had to consult their professors for some of the complex technicalities to draw a blue print .
“You said you were flying back to Japan next week?”
Jack and Rob were wearing despondent expression as my departure date drew nearer; we had become close during the past few weeks exercising and drinking together . Especially Rob, who had been an avid fan of Psychic Battle, requested me to send him a signature from the developer of the game .
If I had only been thinking about using them for their skills, I would never have formed a friendship with them . Programmers had a certain pride in their unique method of coding, and they would never open up to others who didn’t understand their methods . As I had been working with them since the Bios setup, they must’ve acknowledged me to some extent .
Bounce~
I bounce passed the ball to Rob as I spoke .
“I will keep my promise . A signature from the developer of Psychic Battle~!!”
“Yeah~!! Thanks for remembering . But who exactly is the main programmer of Psychic Battle?”
“Me . ”
“What!?”
“Just kidding~ . ”
“Of course you were joking . You can code efficiently, but it’s not to the extent of Psychic Battle~ . ”
“I really am the main developer . But my friend completely reorganized my code . ”
“You really are the developer!? Aside from that, your friend was able to rewrite your entire code!?”
Each programmer had their unique method of coding; they would organize class and loops in a certain way, so it was very difficult for someone else to be able to rewrite the entire code their way .
“You can’t believe it either, right? But it’s the truth . He’s a genius . ”
“Is he Japanese?”
“No, Indian . ”
“Oh . I hope I get a chance to meet him . ”
“You should bring the entire crew to Japan in the summer . I’ll book a hotel for you guys . ”
“Really? You’re great!”
…
As soon as Rob passed the ball, I bounced the ball once before bending my knees to shoot from the 3-point line .
Shhpp~!!
The ball dropped from the hoop along with the satisfying thump sound .
“Take things slowly . All you have to do is finish the blueprint by summer . ”
“You said take it easy and want us to have the blueprint ready by summer . You have no soul~ . ”
Jack came over and passed the ball on the ground back to me .
“You don’t think you can do it? Oh well~ I guess you won’t receive your bonus~”
“You miserable b*stard~ Keke . ”
“If you think it’s unfair, go earn money yourself~ Haha~ . ”
We emptied the entire bottle of beer while we cursed each other into the night .
&
The next day .
After acquiring the license to sell the Gamboy, Mr . Wilson was installing the display model in front of a premium store .