Chapter 54

Chapter 54

Chapter 54 The Reward for Good Deeds (3)

The Divine Eyes show many things.

The past, the present, the future, and even the tails and ears that divine beasts keep hidden.

But they do not show everything one wishes to see.

In particular, the future that can be seen through the Divine Eyes is extremely limited.

Moreover, knowing the result does not mean one can discover every cause, and even if one finds the cause, it is impossible to change the future in which that event occurs.

What is destined to happen will inevitably happen.

All one can do is place one's wishes and efforts into the flow of time leading toward that fragment of the future.

Perhaps it could be called a kind of maze, where one searches for a path toward an exit determined from the beginning.

And I happen to be fairly good at finding my way through that maze.

After confirming a fleeting scene through my Divine Eyes, I slowly opened my eyes.

"Manager Kim, were you sleeping?"

"No. I had something to think about for a moment. Everyone, go ahead and eat first. I'm going to visit Sales Team Two."

"Why are you going there?"

"I forgot to deliver a document."

_________

By the time I arrived at the Sales Team Two office, having skipped lunch, everyone seemed to have already finished eating, just as I'd expected.

Going to lunch earlier than other departments was an unofficial privilege of sorts enjoyed by sales teams, whose members frequently went on business trips. If they rushed to the company cafeteria as soon as it opened and finished eating, their lunch break effectively lasted about an hour and a half.

Of course, the sales team's long and flexible lunch break had its advantages and disadvantages.

After all, whenever they had a lunch appointment with a client, they had to eat a meal without even knowing whether the food was going into their mouths or their noses.

Fortunately, everyone seemed to have eaten at the company cafeteria today.

Department Head Kang, who had a toothbrush in his mouth, spotted me standing outside the door and hurried over to open it.

"Oh, Manager Kim! What brings you to our office? You should've called ahead so we could eat together!"

"Hello, Department Head. Have you been well?"

"What's this? You're making me feel neglected, greeting me like we haven't seen each other in years. Go wait in the reception room for a moment. I'll make you a cup of coffee."

"I'll help."

"I said go on in."

And so I was practically forced into the reception room first. As befitted an office that frequently received clients, it was furnished with comfortable sofas and a low table rather than hard chairs.

Even someone like me, who knew little about furniture, could tell the sofas were made of the cheapest artificial leather, but they were still sofas, and their comfort was on an entirely different level from ordinary chairs.

"Here you go. Coffee's ready."

"Thank you."

"So, what brings you here? You're usually so busy that you only ever call."

"I have a favor to ask."

"A favor?"

"I'm planning to raid the warehouse."

"Raiding the warehouse" was slang used only within our company.

For some reason, the headquarters archive was called the warehouse. It was where dozens of business ideas submitted each year lay dormant after being abandoned during the planning stage for one reason or another.

Raiding the warehouse meant searching through those discarded ideas to salvage a worthwhile business.

"Wait, why would the Strategic Planning Team raid the warehouse? Are you planning to transfer to sales?"

"No. I'd like you to review something, Department Head."

"M-Me?"

The Department Head stammered in surprise.

That was understandable. Raiding the warehouse was essentially stealing another department's business project.

Worse still, most of the projects being stolen had already been abandoned because they were judged unprofitable or impractical.

The department doing the raiding would receive plenty of criticism, and no matter how thoroughly it reworked the salvaged project to suit its needs, the project had fundamental flaws from the outset. There was a very high chance that upper management would view it unfavorably.

For that reason, departments rarely raided the warehouse unless some major disaster had made it difficult to develop new business ideas.

Sales Team Two, which had secured its own stable maintenance business, had absolutely no reason to raid the warehouse. It had even less reason to review a project taken from there.

"What kind of project?"

"An artificial intelligence development project the Portal Site Department was preparing seven years ago."

"Wait, wasn't that the one the Chairman..."

"I'm only asking you to review it. I'll be going now. Thank you for the coffee."

"Huh? Oh."

I handed him the single document I'd prepared and rose from my seat.

I wasn't expecting much from Department Head Kang.

Simply having him review the project would accomplish my immediate objective.

_________

After Jinseong left, Sales Team Two went down to the archives, found the materials related to the project in question, and brought them to the conference room.

Since the project had already been underway before being suspended, the organized documentation alone filled two boxes.

『2018 Artificial Intelligence (AI) Development Project』

"Department Head, are you seriously thinking of doing this?"

"We're just taking a look. That's all. Still, Manager Kim went out of his way to mention it, so there might be something worthwhile. Besides, it's about time we started a new project anyway."

"That's true, but the budget and scale of this project are enormous. Even if we start in the second half of the year, we don't have the necessary personnel, and there's no telling when development would be completed."

"Hmm."

Department Head Kang shared his team members' concerns.

It was a project that would cost an astronomical sum. Moreover, it was an extremely risky undertaking in which failure would render all their efforts meaningless.

If things went wrong, it might not end with someone taking responsibility and resigning. The entire company could be shaken.

"Besides, it wasn't just anyone who canceled this project. It was the Chairman himself. I don't know whether the Senior Managing Director would approve it."

"Department Head, should we stop here and put it away?"

"Just a moment."

Department Head Kang experienced a sense of déjà vu.

Somehow, it felt similar to the moment three years ago when he had entered the main conference room and unexpectedly found himself giving his presentation again.

The only difference was that back then, he had been the desperate one, whereas now it was someone else.

Jinseong was once again sprinting at full speed to give someone a push forward without expecting anything in return.

'He's still as impossible to figure out as ever.'

"Let's at least investigate it. Ask the people who worked on this project seven years ago. It won't be too late to decide whether it's viable after that."

"Yes, understood."

They had nothing to lose.

Even if they went around gathering information about an abandoned project, it wouldn't cause any harm to him or Sales Team Two.

However, the reactions of the employees who completed their interviews with the former project staff in just half a day were entirely different.

'Wow, are you starting that again? It was such a shame when they canceled it! We were just a little short on personnel back then. The development team had already written almost all the core components.'

'The artificial intelligence project? Ah! There are so many open-source resources these days that it should be much easier. Back then, there wasn't much information available, and the revenue model was uncertain. These days, well, practically every company uses AI. Haha.'

'We were convinced that project would succeed, so we managed the deliverables extremely thoroughly. There isn't a single fabricated document in the whole project, so you should be able to analyze everything and get started right away.'

These were the findings gathered by Sales Team Two.

Since the answers came from developers, who tended to be more conservative than anyone when discussing work, most of what they'd heard was likely true.

"Department Head, this... might actually work."

"Even the staff who transferred from the portal division to the general development team were positive about it."

"Really? So all we need to do is build it? Even if we don't use a paid service model, we could apply it to every platform operated by our affiliates. Wait a minute. If we want to handle the platform integrations at the same time, our internal workforce won't be nearly enough."

_______

The following morning.

As soon as I turned on my computer, the Department Head asked what had happened after my visit to Sales Team Two the previous day.

(So, did Sales Team Two agree to take it on?)

"I don't know. I wasn't the one who proposed it."

(Huh? What do you mean?)

"I merely told them there was a promising project that had unfortunately been discontinued seven years ago. That's as much as an employee from another department can say."

(Well, that's true, but Sales Team Two has to start that project before they can subcontract any work to SL Software, doesn't it?)

"That would be ideal, but it isn't strictly necessary. What matters is the result that emerges after Sales Team Two starts asking around."

If launched, it would be a project costing hundreds of billions of won. Even if they decided to proceed, it would require thorough verification by both management and the working-level staff.

But there was a certain group of people who didn't need that kind of verification.

"It's out."

I copied a news article posted online and shared it in the chat room.

[Exclusive] Daechun Group to Resume 'Project ORCA,' Its AI Development Project Suspended Seven Years Ago

『May 22, 2025 / Seoul — Digital Economy News

Daechun Group is set to resume Project ORCA, an artificial intelligence development project that was abruptly suspended seven years ago.

Industry analysts suggest that the decision may signal a shift in the group's future strategy.

Speaking with this publication on the 22nd, a Daechun Group representative stated, "We are preparing to resume Project ORCA, centered on our in-house artificial intelligence research laboratory. We believe the technological foundation has matured sufficiently, and market conditions have changed enough to make another attempt worthwhile."』

(Word has already gotten out? That was fast. Really fast.)

There are no secrets in this world.

News that Daechun Group might launch a major project would have spread rapidly, starting with Sales Team Two.

And it wouldn't have taken long for that information to reach reporters.

(But isn't this article a little too blatant? Nothing in it is actually wrong, but still, something feels...)

(Who cares? This puts Development Team Two in the driver's seat. And now there's an obvious answer as to which vendor they'll need.)

SL Software.

There might be a replacement company, but it was still only a substitute.

No fool would use an unproven substitute for a project involving hundreds of billions of won, or potentially even more.

And to avoid doing the same work twice, the other projects connected to it would naturally return to SL Software as well.

Unless someone had accepted a truly substantial amount of money under the table.

____________

At an office in Guro Digital Complex, furious shouting had been echoing since morning.

The voice belonged to the middle-aged man who had held a secret meeting with Department Head Jung Jiwon.

"Department Head Park, we'd already settled everything! Why are you suddenly doing this?"

(I'm sorry about that. I'll buy you a drink sometime.)

"No, Department Head Park! Department Head Park!"

The call ended after that one-sided notification and consolation.

Then the phone began ringing again.

"Yes, this is Tae Wonseok of Haeul Soft."

(CEO, about that matter, an unexpected problem has come up at headquarters. I think we'll have to postpone the project we agreed to give you until another opportunity arises. Well, take care.)

"Hello? Hello!"

-Bang.

CEO Tae Wonseok couldn't contain his fury at the succession of bad news.

"Fuck! That bastard Jung Jiwon! What? Give him thirty percent?"

He had already lost two projects that were practically ready to be finalized with nothing more than a signature.

And both were major contracts worth several billion won each.

Tae Wonseok's company, whose average annual revenue barely reached five billion won, had lost more than half its yearly revenue in just two phone calls.

-Ring, ring, ring.

And, oblivious to his mood, the phone rang again.

"Phew. Yes, this is Tae Wonseok of Haeul Soft."

(Hyung, it's Jung Jiwon. I was hoping you could hurry up and send the money you promised to transfer today. I'm at the law firm, and the costs are higher than I expected...)

"You fucking bastard! You're not getting a single penny, so just rot in prison!"

He violently ended the call, only for his phone to ring again immediately.

-Ring, ring, ring.

"Fuck!"

Unable to contain his anger, CEO Tae Wonseok hurled his phone against the wall.

But he shouldn't have done that.

The next call was from Daechun Group's Audit Department.

And so, regrettably, the Daechun Group Audit Department had no choice but to head to Haeul Soft without advance notice because they couldn't reach anyone by phone.