Chapter 53. Syd Lucas (1)

David still had a look of confusion on his face.

You must be wondering if Syd Lucas is really that great and how I knew about it.

“Did you buy Prisoner to catch Syd Lucas’s attention?”

“Yes.”

He is a huge fan of Zombineado.

To the extent that he not only bought Prisoner with his own money but also created a CG production program and a VR program for the director.

Thanks to this, Prisoner, which was a B-movie studio, became the first to showcase a VR movie, surpassing many prominent Hollywood studios.

This time, I bought Prisoner and am having them produce Zombineado 2.

“How did you know he liked Zombineado?”

“Check his SNS.”

Actually, it’s not there.

I just saw an article about it before I came back.

David looked flabbergasted.

“You bought a film studio for him?”

You probably didn’t think I would buy a film studio just because someone likes a movie.

“Thanks to that, things went well.”

Otherwise, it would have been hard to catch Syd’s attention. I could tell from our brief conversation that he is quite shy.

“Do you think he’ll contact you?”

“He’ll contact me, at least to ask about Zombineado 2.”

David chuckled.

“Really, for something like that...”

Ding!

At that moment, my phone rang. It was an unknown number.

I deliberately put it on speaker.

“Hello, this is Han Miru.”

[Hi, this is Syd Lucas, we just met at the company.]

“Ah! Nice to meet you.”

I smiled proudly, and David looked flustered.

* * *

We met Syd in the hotel business room.

When I saw him on TV during the first loop, he seemed to have a halo behind him, but now he just looks like an ordinary college student.

“How did you get my phone number?”

The business card I gave him was immediately taken and thrown away by Rolf.

Syd said it was no big deal.

“I memorized it as soon as I saw it.”

Indeed, he is smart.

As soon as he sat down, he asked me,

“How did you know?”

“Know what?”

“That those two are idiots.”

“Well...”

He said it himself later.

After becoming the CEO of CoolCloud, he called his co-founders idiots and despised them, especially Rolf, to whom he openly showed contempt.

Well, there were reasons for that.

“I’m not smart enough to recognize a genius, but I’m not so stupid that I can’t recognize an idiot. I could tell they were idiots as soon as I talked to them.”

Syd smiled broadly.

“Exactly. People strangely don’t seem to realize that. In fact, Rolf Butch, despite his reputation, has no real talent.”

David asked, puzzled.

“Isn’t Rolf Butch the Chief Development Officer of CoolCloud?”

Syd said mockingly.

“What kind of development officer doesn’t do any development and doesn’t take any responsibility?”

“He doesn’t do any development?”

“All the error fixes and updates are done by the developers. Rolf doesn’t really do anything. He just talks to journalists and goes out with blonde beauties.”

Judging from his words, he must have had a lot of complaints.

Although I already knew some of these stories, I wanted to hear them directly from the person involved, so I asked various questions.

“How did you end up working at CoolCloud?”

“We worked together at a previous company. It was called TalkIt, but it went bankrupt. Before that, Rolf founded CoolCloud and brought me along.”

“Why did it go bankrupt?”

“There were a few issues. Looking back, it’s a bit disappointing. If we had just one more week, we could have fixed all the problems and come out of it.”

“How did you end up at TalkIt?”

“I graduated high school early and was playing games at home when I saw a job posting from Rolf’s company. I was curious about what the best genius in Silicon Valley was like. But there were many other applicants. They all had impressive backgrounds. Caltech, MIT, Harvard, Stanford, Yale, and so on. Many had worked at well-known IT giants. I was probably the only one without a college degree. Oh! I was also the youngest.”

He was 18 when he first applied.

He had no work experience and had only learned coding through self-study, barely able to handle programs.

So, I thought I would definitely be rejected...

“Did you get accepted?”

“Yes. They gave me a few coding tests on the spot and decided to hire me.”

I was surprised to hear this.

Perhaps Rolf Butch has an eye for recognizing geniuses that no one else can match?

Actually, that in itself is a tremendous talent. How many people can’t recognize a genius even when they’re right in front of them?

“I was thrilled to work with Rolf Butch. But it turned out he didn’t do any development and just went around doing interviews and dates. I worked there for about a year, and one day he showed me a new program he had developed.”

“Was that Minerva?”

“Yes. I was really shocked. I thought he had been slacking off all this time, but it turned out he had been developing something on the side. That’s a program only a real genius could create. So, I wanted to continue working with such a genius, which is why I followed him to CoolCloud.”

David asked, puzzled.

“Didn’t you just call him an idiot? Which is it, a genius or an idiot?”

“An idiot.”

“Why?”

“I don’t think he created Minerva.”

David looked surprised, and I smiled inwardly.

Indeed, you noticed at this point.

“What makes you think that?”

Syd said bluntly.

“He doesn’t have the ability to create it. He probably copied it from someone else or bought it with money.”

Minerva is the core program of CoolCloud.

If this is true, it’s a big deal.

“Do you have any evidence?”

“I watched him closely, so I know. He doesn’t even understand the program properly. If you asked him to do it alone, he wouldn’t be able to handle it.”

David raised a question.

“If someone else developed it, wouldn’t that have come out by now?”

Syd nodded.

“Actually, that’s what I’m wondering. Someone who can create Minerva is not just any genius. Such a person should be well-known in Silicon Valley.”

That’s true.

There must be a reason why such a genius is unknown.

“What about Rolf Butch, and Alex Preston? Why do you call them idiots?”

“Because they don’t realize Rolf is an idiot even though they’re right next to him. How stupid can you be to be fooled like that?”

Hearing this, I’m glad I know the future.

I quickly nodded.

“Yes, if you can’t recognize an idiot, you’re an idiot.”

Syd said while drinking his beverage.

“There’s another reason.”

“What is it?”

“They don’t understand what cloud computing is at all.”

It’s a ridiculous claim. The founders of a cloud company don’t understand cloud computing.

Syd looked at us and asked,

“What do you think the essence of the cloud is?”

It’s a question that seems easy but is actually difficult.

Because the concept of the cloud is so broad that everyone has a slightly different definition. You could ask 100 people and get 100 different answers.

Fortunately, I know the right answer.

“The metaverse.”

The metaverse is a virtual space that goes beyond the physical world, where you can engage in daily activities, leisure, and economic activities.

Syd was surprised, as if he didn’t expect a correct answer.

“Wow! You’re right! How did you know?”

Syd explained excitedly.

“To surpass existing platform companies, you have to go to the metaverse. The foundation of that is the cloud.”

Giant companies have their own platforms.

NS has the PC operating system Windows, NPL has NPhone and NOS, GBL has Andromeda, and AMZ has AZone and ZWS.

The important thing is that these are not free. Platform companies take 30% of the revenue generated within their platforms.

It’s like the relationship between digital serfs and landlords.

The more other companies work within these platforms, the more the platform companies benefit. No matter how hard you work, you’re just making things better for others.

Even CoolCloud is paying huge usage fees to the Big 3 cloud providers. While they claim to have a cooperative relationship, they are essentially dependent.

As time goes on, the gap between those who have platforms and those who don’t will only grow.

“They both can’t do what they need to because they’re always looking over their shoulders. If they try to do something, ENPL opposes it, GBL opposes it, and they can’t do it.”

They believe they must operate within the boundaries of the platform giants’ territories.

Syd, however, wants to go a step further.

This conflict of opinions is one of the reasons he doesn’t like the management.

David asked, puzzled.

“Isn’t it impossible to run a cloud business without collaborating with the Big 3?”

That’s the common sense of ordinary people.

But how can ordinary people understand the mind of a genius?

“There are plenty of data centers that can provide storage, not just them. We can build our own if necessary. With Minerva, we can provide a much better service, so there’s no need to maintain a cooperative relationship. Whether it’s an operating system or a program, it’s fine as long as it runs on the cloud.”

David asked, surprised.

“What does that mean?”

Typically, you use an operating system to run the cloud. But what Syd is saying is the complete opposite.

The reason you use a particular operating system is that there are programs that only work within it.

This is often referred to as a platform ecosystem. Once consumers are in the ecosystem, they find it hard to leave even if a better platform comes along.

This is known as the lock-in effect.

For example, NPL’s NOS has strong closedness. Installation and payment are impossible without going through the app store.

But if you can run programs on the cloud without installing them?

Consumers can install programs in the virtual space regardless of the operating system they use and make payments within it.

This way, individual platforms lose their meaning, and everything is connected within the cloud.

David shook his head in disbelief after hearing this explanation.

“Would existing companies allow that?”

Of course, IT giants won’t easily give up their territory. They will do everything to prevent it.

Syd said nonchalantly.

“Whether they allow it or not, it doesn’t matter. We just need to make it work. Making a non-functional program work is no big deal.”

“...”

He says it as easily as taking something out of his pocket.

If someone else said this, you might think they were just talking big. But if Syd Lucas says it, it’s a different story.

Anyone can have a good idea.

But a genius doesn’t just think of what others can’t. They put it into action.

The idea of flying might have been thought of by many, but only the Wright brothers turned it into reality.

Similarly, Syd has the ability to execute his ideas. But to do so, he needs a huge amount of capital.

I looked at the young man in front of me.

Throughout human history, there have always been geniuses who lead the world in every era.

They see what others can’t and do what others can’t. And behind them are investors who read the flow of change and provide the money.

Even if I know what will be created in the future, I can’t create it myself. I’m not a genius.

But I can invest in a genius.

Syd Lucas is called the greatest genius of the 21st century even before it ends.

Because he is the founder of the virtual world and the father of the metaverse.