Translator: Dreamscribe
After a few days, posts about MIT Simulator started flooding the community like wildfire.
[Got into this ga and now I can't get out]
-I'm an MIT student, and the character feels like . I hope you get the romance I never had. Dumped all my stat points into looks.
└Are you popular in the ga?
└Yeah, girls co up to just from walking around. Ahh... the life of a handso man....
└At least you're happy in there. That's what counts.
But there was a problem.
The queue was exploding, yet the people who were logged in refused to leave.
[Hey! Free up so slots. I've been in queue for 5 hours]
-Do you people not sleep? I heard you get auto-kicked after an hour of inactivity, so why isn't the queue going down?
└It's queue hell. No way I'm logging out.
└After waiting 10 hours to get in, you think I'm leaving? The mods are seriously fun. I'm crafting a battle suit right now.
└Flathrower is the best for mowing down zombies. The satisfaction is insane.
└I'm juggling multiple relationships ㅋㅋ Living out my Casanova fantasy that I could never pull off in real life. But I got caught lmao. It turned into a suspense thriller in an instant.
The next morning, reviews from MIT students started trickling in one by one.
[MIT Simulator vs. My Actual Day]
-I ran the auto-simulation, and the character does almost the sa things I do. Gave chills.
└I set mine as a math major and dumped everything into intelligence. But why can't I beco Yu Seo-ha? No matter what I do, there are no events like solving unsolvable problems.
└Guess that level isn't even close to enough ㅋㅋㅋ
└I tried it in local mode too and it was pretty fun. A character loaded with all my hopes and dreams. Is this what it feels like to live as an engineering departnt goddess?
And then, that afternoon, the incident happened.
A materials engineering student at MIT left a post that sent shockwaves through the community.
[I made a War Hamr in tribute to strear Nova.]
-After watching Nova craft the War Hamr, I thought, 'This is the destiny of our departnt.'
So I made one myself.
Following the exact in-ga recipe ㅋㅋㅋ Authenticity is everything.
High-carbon steel 60%, dium-carbon steel 40%, micro-reinforcent particles (what the ga calls 'alloy catalyst').
In the ga, an NPC whips it up just like that, but obviously reality doesn't work that way.
I told the lab I was writing a paper and worked in the casting lab. The issue was the materials, but I bought those myself.
I modeled the in-ga War Hamr in CAD, then 3D-printed it to make the mold.
And here's the finished product.
(Photo)
└This is insane ㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋ
└Have you lost your mind, human?
└So MIT Simulator was a hyper-realistic ga all along. chanical engineering students could make actual modern firearms if they wanted to, right?
└I'm Nova.... I'm genuinely moved. Can you sell this to ? It's not just a tribute in na only, right? I feel bad, so I'll pay generously for the materials and labor.
└ㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋ
└The man himself appears. Next up, are you making armor too?
└A limited edition made just for him. How could anyone resist this ㅋㅋㅋ
The buzz showed no signs of dying down.
A photo titled 'A ga made by your average MIT student.jpg' set the community ablaze.
The following afternoon, the four of them sat on the floor of the clubhouse, celebrating the ga's success.
Everyone raised their glasses.
Cypher, the leader, took charge of the toast.
"You all worked your asses off. Cheers!"
""Cheers!""
Two 24-inch extra-large pizzas sat on the floor. Seo-ha's eyes went wide.
"Wow! These are huge. I've never seen pizzas this big."
Smothered in cheese with pepperoni packed edge to edge, the pizzas truly lived up to the na "monster".
Entropy already had a slice in her mouth.
"This feeling of carbs and fat hitting my bloodstream. Is this what success tastes like?"
"Oh man, this is killer. Normally they're too expensive to even think about."
Seo-ha carefully picked up a slice as well.
The cheese stretched out in a long, gooey pull. To his surprise, it tasted better than expected.
The sweetness of the tomato sauce paired perfectly with the salty, spicy pepperoni.
The rich warmth of the lted cheese sliding down delivered an almost violent satisfaction.
"Wow! This is way better than I thought."
Cypher spoke with a triumphant expression.
"Right? That's the taste of Arican pizza. Not as fancy as Italian, but one bite and you're happy."
Everyone was laughing and talking.
Seo-ha was glad to be with them.
Thanks to these three, he had been able to develop the Synapse Engine in earnest. The engine he had built to earn his sister's tuition had brought joy to so many people, and that made him happy.
"So what happens to us now?"
Entropy wiped her hands and sat down in front of her keyboard.
"We'll have to wait for investnt offers. Once the download count hits 100,000, 200,000, we should get so pretty good offers rolling in."
"I think we could go even higher. The rate it's growing is no joke."
Just as Root predicted, after a week, downloads surpassed 300,000.
Investnt proposals poured in. But most were modest offers hovering around one million dollars.
Then, while checking the inbox, Cypher spotted a na that made his eyes light up.
"Guys! This is huge!"
Everyone crowded around Cypher's desk.
"What is it?"
"Where, where?"
Cypher clicked the email.
[Partnership Proposal Regarding MIT Simulator and the Synapse Engine]
-From: Skyline
"Skyline? The Silicon Valley legend?"
"They're famous for their autonomous driving modules!"
"That's not all. They build smart city infrastructure, the whole thing. I heard their funding is insane. They must have a ton of subsidiaries too."
A company with an absurdly massive market cap.
The three of them stood there with their jaws on the floor.
* * *
The next day, Seo-ha and Spectra Works arrived at Skyline's Cambridge office with nervous expressions.
A sleek conference room, with a high-resolution screen on one wall displaying MIT Simulator gaplay footage.
"Whoa! I didn't know it could do that."
Had soone started with an architecture major?
The campus looked vastly different from reality. It felt like gazing at a city of the future.
Creak.
The conference room door opened and a man in a sharp suit walked in.
"Sorry to keep you waiting. I'm Ethan Lowell, Head of Strategic Technology at Skyline."
He took his seat and slid a set of docunts forward.
"The screen on the wall shows the results of about 48 hours of testing on our end. We used the ga map as-is, but once we advanced the architectural algorithms, it started evolving on its own. Truly impressive."
He turned his laptop screen toward them.
Graphs showing population movent records, traffic flow by transportation type, and energy consumption. Everything was influencing everything else, evolving in real ti.
Seo-ha watched the screen with fascinated eyes.
Ethan opened his briefcase and pulled out a pre-drafted contract.
"Our internal assessnt found that the engine you possess could be an extrely useful tool for our business operations. That's why we're making this proposal, even though we're not a gaming company."
Root asked, visibly startled.
"What? Then what about MIT Simulator?"
"Of course, we respect that as well. We'll support your studio, and you can continue making gas.
Our company values Spectra Works at ten million dollars. Including all rights to the Synapse Engine, of course."
Everyone's eyes went wide at the figure, which was larger than expected.
Entropy was the first to collect herself. She began turning through the contract with trembling hands.
Skyline would pay 5.2 million dollars in exchange for a 51% stake.
Entropy murmured under her breath.
"51%. That's essentially an acquisition."
Ethan nodded.
"We need a majority stake for headquarters to take on the risk and push the project forward."
The remaining 49% would be divided among the team by mutual agreent, and Seo-ha, as the engine's developer, would receive an additional one-million-dollar personal bonus.
The condition was that he would work as the engine's lead director for at least three years after graduation.
Ethan wore a aningful smile.
'There's no way they'll refuse.'
Soone on the AI team had started playing the ga first. The next day, they ca to him buzzing with excitent.
It was because the engine was far more advanced than anything they were currently developing.
Skyline's AI research team currently had fifty people.
Even if they poured five years into it, there was no guarantee they could produce results on this level. So five million dollars was hardly a burden.
"You absolutely must lock down the engine's designer. An AI engine has a structure that can't be replicated. Hundreds of algorithm parater tunings, behavioral models, caching strategies, optimization tricks, inter-algorithm interference handling.... If even one of those is different, you won't get an engine with the sa performance.
You need to acquire the entire ecosystem of the engine, including its designer."
'So what would take us over five years, they've already built.'
What Ethan had particularly zeroed in on was the engine's 'military value.'
'What would happen if we used this to control drone swarms?'
Each individual drone would think for itself and find the optimal attack route. A true ga changer that could reshape the entire landscape of warfare.
Beyond that, it could predict enemy troop movents or analyze civilian behavior patterns, showing specialized performance in battlefield simulations as well.
'Now then, kids. Go ahead and sign.'
In the AI industry, the most important thing was technological monopoly.
They didn't want anyone other than themselves to get their hands on the Synapse Engine.
'Hm?'
The students, whom he had expected to be thrilled, looked grim.
Entropy, who had been reviewing the contract, folded her arms and glared at him.
"So this contract is basically a recruitnt pitch for Seo-ha, isn't it? You don't seem to have any interest in the ga we built."
Ethan waved his hand dismissively.
"That's not what this is. Skyline simply isn't a gaming company."
Root looked at Seo-ha.
"What do you think?"
Seo-ha shook his head.
"I have no intention of working for a corporation. My calling is mathematics, and I've never once forgotten that in my life.
Making the ga made realize the many possibilities the Synapse Engine holds. And what could happen if it were misused...."
Sensing the mood turning, Ethan hastily cut him off.
"W-wait a mont. We are a company that aims to build smart cities. Misuse? That engine will be used for the benefit of humanity."
"But Skyline has defense contractors among its subsidiaries."
Ethan stared at Seo-ha. Then, as if he had made up his mind, he spoke.
"...Ten million dollars. In cash. We don't need anything else. Just give us 51% of the rights to the engine. You can take the money and start a gaming company, do whatever you like. Seo-ha wouldn't even need to co into the office. All you'd have to do is help with the initial setup."
Seo-ha spoke slowly.
His gaze was calm and steady, far beyond his years.
"Now I am beco death, the destroyer of worlds."
"Huh?"
A line that sounded like it belonged in a Shakespearean play.
Ethan gave him a puzzled look.
"It's what Oppenheir said after the atomic bomb was dropped on Japan.
I don't want to make the sa mistake he did. What would be written about in the history of mathematics soday...."
If he were the person responsible for creating a terrible weapon of war, what kind of reproach would he face from the saints of mathematics when he died?
The thought alone was dizzying. Seo-ha wanted to stand before them with his shoulders held high and proud.
"That's enough!"
Riiip-
Root shot to his feet and tore the contract in half.
Beside him, Cypher and Entropy fixed Ethan with ice-cold stares.
"Hah...."
Ethan swept his hair back with a tired expression.
"This is truly foolish. I promise you, an offer like this will never co again. If you walk out of here, the day will co when you regret it."
Anger crept into his voice.
His eyes seed to say, 'These kids have no idea what they're doing.'
But even after hearing that, Spectra Works didn't waver.
They scoffed and walked right out of the conference room.
Ethan sat there with a hollow expression.
There were very few people who truly understood the value of that engine.
"Damn it. The starting bid was supposed to be a hundred million."
He had thought ten million dollars would be more than enough to short-circuit the judgnt of a few college students.
But the train had already left the station.
Now that his true intentions regarding defense applications had been exposed, even if he managed to close a deal, it would co buried under a mountain of special conditions.
The four of them, now hungry, stopped by McDonald's and ordered cheeseburgers.
"You all must have been starving."
The three of them were cramming burgers and fries into their mouths.
"Obviously. I feel like my soul got sucked out."
"Sa, I can barely think straight."
"We were just decoration anyway. That offer was basically addressed to Seo-ha personally."
Seo-ha let out a hearty laugh.
"If I'd taken the money, I was planning to split it according to our equity shares, you know?"
"That's not happening. Like you said, the Synapse Engine seems like sothing no corporation should have. We'll use it under a license from you."
"The way he ca at us with his eyes all bloodshot, he definitely had so shady plans."
"I knew the engine was impressive, but I had no idea it was on this level."
"So what are you planning to do now?"
Every company that had sent a proposal would want a stake that included the Synapse Engine.
Cypher shoved the remaining half of his burger into his mouth in one bite.
"I've been thinking about it, and the problem is relying on other people's money. We can just do it ourselves."
"Got any cash?"
At Entropy's question, the two n averted their eyes.
"Ten thousand dollars?"
"About the sa."
"...."
Seo-ha, munching on fries, casually tossed out a suggestion.
"How about crowdfunding? The download numbers are already that high, so if we promise to share future profits, couldn't we at least raise enough for the initial costs?"
Root nodded.
"That makes sense. There's no shortage of people who'd happily pay if it ant getting rid of the queue."
Entropy clutched her head.
"Ahh.... my unicorn dreams."
"Back to square one in the dorm room?"
They were sighing, but the expressions on all three faces looked brighter than ever.
"Yeah, it's not like we were chasing so get-rich-quick sche. Let's just go for it!"
"That's not what I said though? I'm going to build this into a unicorn."
"Sure, sure."
Seo-ha watched them with an innocent smile.
Root looked at Seo-ha and asked.
"How does a cheeseburger taste after turning down ten million dollars?"
Seo-ha grinned and shot a thumbs up.
"Incredible.
And I have a feeling you guys are going to make way more than that."
Everyone burst out laughing.
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