Chapter 83. A Fitting Price for Wisdom (3)

When I signaled again, David took out a contract and handed it to the two men, saying,

"He sold all the rights to the program he created to Continuity Capital."

Rolf opened his eyes wide and shouted,

"What? Jason Kim is dead!"

"He had a wife and children. Her name is Julia Kim. She is Jason Kim's heir. Surely you didn't know that?"

"Th, that's..."

Of course, you must have known. It was also written in the email.

"So now we have a problem to solve."

Bang!

Rolf slammed the table with both hands.

"So what are you going to do about it!?"

"Why are you angry at me when you're the one who did wrong?"

Is this what they mean when they say the one who farted is the one who gets angry?

"What do you want!?"

I said calmly,

"Wisdom requires a fitting price. According to mythology, Odin gave up one of his eyes to Mimir to drink from the well of wisdom. What can you offer?"

"What do you want us to offer!? Money?"

"Give us Cloud."

"What? You son of a..."

Alex, perhaps worried that Rolf would say something foolish, stopped him and asked,

"Do you want us to sell the company?"

I waved the complaint.

"Wouldn't it be better than being sued and losing the use of the core program?"

This meant that if they didn't sell, we would proceed with the lawsuit.

"How much?"

"Let's say 5 billion dollars."

Their expressions hardened.

I would have liked to ask for more, but I can't. Because I only have 5 billion dollars right now.

Alex asked,

"Are you serious?"

"Ah! Don't misunderstand. I'm only talking about your shares, not the entire company. So the actual company value would be 6.25 billion dollars. Isn't that reasonable?"

"But last time you offered to buy it for 7 billion dollars."

I laughed as if I didn't understand.

"That was then. If it were a normal company, I would pay 7 billion dollars, but now that we know you used Continuity Capital's program without permission, I can't pay that much, can I?"

"..."

No matter what, they didn't expect the price to drop to less than a tenth.

Alex said nothing.

After all, it's a company that continues to increase in value over time. He wouldn't want to sell it at a low price now.

"Jason Kim's wife and children were living in a rented house, struggling. On the day I met her, his wife was working all day as a server in a restaurant to support her children. Isn't it ridiculous? While you were using the stolen program to build a company and live lavishly, the rightful heir was working her body to the bone to earn just a few more dollars."

Their monthly living expenses wouldn't even match Rolf's daily spending. While Cloud's value soared, the family's life became increasingly difficult.

"Surely you didn't know that?"

Rolf shook his head in confusion.

"I, I really didn't know!"

His expression looked genuinely surprised.

This is probably not a lie. He likely didn't care at all about how the family was living.

If he had helped Jason's family out of respect for his deceased friend, his wife might have consulted with him before selling Mimir's rights.

If that had happened, this situation wouldn't have arisen.

"What will people say when they find out the truth?"

Rolf's eyes widened.

"Y, You're going to reveal this?"

"Yes. I plan to tip off The Wall Street Times."

"Why!?"

"Because it's the truth."

Due to the Thomas Motors incident, both David Rockheart and Trish O'Connor gained immense fame.

With the aftereffects of that incident still lingering, what would happen if an article exposing the truth about Cloud were to be published?

No matter how hard they tried, they wouldn't be able to stop it.

Alex spoke up.

"Do you think such threats will work?"

I leaned back and said,

"Threats? This is a fair proposal."

"Will you accept it?"

"Wouldn't you be in a difficult position if Cloud fails and your standing in the family becomes unstable?"

"..."

Alex's expression hardened.

Unlike his brothers who invest in stocks, bonds, and raw materials, he invested all his inherited wealth in Cloud.

He even received additional group funds to invest.

If he loses all this money, he will be out of the running for the successor. Who would entrust the management of the group to a failed investor?

"I'll give you four days. Think it over."

Having finished speaking, I stood up.

* * *

After Han Meiru and David left.

When only the two of them were left, Alex asked sharply,

"Damn it! Is what they said true? Say something!"

Rolf also shouted,

"What do you want me to do!?"

"Did you really steal it?"

"What did I steal?"

"Then?"

"Jason is dead! The program had no owner anyway! I just used it!"

"..."

Isn't that what people usually call stealing?

Rolf continued to make excuses.

"Mimir was a poor program at first! It evolved because of me! Without me, Mimir was nothing!"

No matter how plausible his excuses, the fact that he stole it doesn't change.

Alex, exasperated, said,

"Shouldn't you have told me!?"

"I didn't expect this to happen!"

"Why didn't you tell me earlier?"

"If I had told you, would you have partnered with me?"

"..."

He only agreed to partner with Rolf because he was the developer of Minerva, or Mimir. If he could have bought the rights separately, there would have been no need to partner with him.

Alex shouted,

"Damn it! Is that your excuse?"

"I didn't expect this to happen! Jason never showed the program to anyone! Not even his wife! Mimir was only known by him and me!"

"Now they know too!"

"I didn't know! I didn't know!"

He wanted to grab Rolf by the collar and punch him. By not doing so, Alex was showing maximum restraint.

Rolf was a genius, an innovator, and a star of Silicon Valley.

But all of that was a lie.

No, he was a fraud who stole a program created by his dead friend and claimed it as his own!

Rolf might have thought he had hidden it well, but Alex had noticed to some extent while working with him.

However, he never deeply considered the issue.

He thought Rolf had at least contributed to the development. How could he know who contributed what in a joint project?

If he had contributed even a little, he could claim usage rights. He thought he could defend himself legally.

But...

If he had stolen the entire program from his dead friend, it was a different story.

From the evidence they showed, he would lose in court. Even before the verdict, he would face criticism and lose clients.

'If I had known earlier, I would have bought the rights for a million or ten million dollars!'

It wouldn't have mattered who developed it first as long as the rights were legally secured. But now those rights belong to Continuity Capital.

Rolf, holding his head in his hands, said,

"If this gets out, I'm finished."

When the Thomas Motors incident broke, Alex mocked the founder who committed fraud and the investors who fell for it, including his own brother.

But now, he might end up in the same situation. Given that he had bet everything on Cloud, the impact would be much greater.

Alex gritted his teeth.

"It's a relief if only you are finished. I'm in trouble too."

* * *

David shook his head.

"I still don't understand."

"What don't you understand?"

"Why didn't Rolf Butch buy the program? He could have met the wife and bought the rights, like we did."

Buying someone else's technology and starting a business is common.

Even Bill Gates, the founder of NS, didn't develop the early operating system NS-DOS. He just hired the developer and bought the program.

Yet the massive profits and fame went to Bill Gates.

Who remembers the name of the developer who created NS-DOS?

So why didn't Rolf buy the program?

To use it for free? Because a few dollars were too much?

"Have you seen the movie 'The Talented Mr. Ripley'?"

"I saw it a long time ago."

The protagonist, Ripley, admires his friend Ricky so much that he kills him and pretends to be Ricky.

This gave rise to the term "Ripley Syndrome."

It's not a real mental illness but refers to the act of deceiving others to become closer to the person one wants to be.

Rolf always wanted to be the unique genius everyone admired. But his abilities didn't match that.

He didn't initially plan to steal. He probably wanted to be a co-developer. But after Jason died, his thoughts changed.

He announced that he had developed it, hiding the truth.

David shook his head.

"What a ridiculous story."

"Well, everyone has different goals."

If he only cared about money, he wouldn't have done such a foolish thing. But what he pursued was the image of a genius and the praise of the public.

As a result, he enjoyed it to the fullest.

David smiled bitterly.

"Poor Alex Preston."

Starting a business with a good idea is something anyone can do.

But for a small startup to grow into a giant company, timely investment is necessary.

Even with Mimir and Seed Lucas, if Alex hadn't provided capital at the right time, Cloud wouldn't have grown so quickly.

Of course, he poured in the money because he was confident of success. And in the first round, he received the appropriate reward.

But this time, things are different because of me.

Rolf is paying the price for his mistake, but Alex has done nothing wrong. He just chose the wrong partner.

I don't have any particular feelings toward him.

But...

"Money has no morality, after all."