Chapter 86. Game Theory (3)

I said indifferently,

"Don't feel too wronged. It would have been exposed eventually anyway."

"That's not true..."

The reason I acted on this knowledge was because later, a patent troll company called Patrol sued for rights.

The difference is that their goal was money, while mine was the company.

"Anyway, you came at a good time. I just finished writing the report."

"Report?"

"Yes. A report exposing CoolCloud's unethical behavior."

I placed the report written by David Lockhart in front of him. Rolph flipped through it with trembling hands.

"I plan to send this to Trish O'Connor, a reporter at WST. It will likely be a huge scoop that shakes up Silicon Valley. This could even be a Pulitzer Prize contender, right?"

I was joking.

The Pulitzer Prize isn't that easy to win.

Rolph's face turned pale, his originally white face becoming even whiter.

"You're going to expose this to the media?"

"Yes. It's perfect timing. With the aftermath of the Thomas Motors incident still not settled, this article will be quite a spectacle, won't it? The revelation that Silicon Valley's top star was a fraud. What could be more intriguing? All the media will cover it extensively, and internet communities will explode."

"..."

Whether it will actually happen or not, from his perspective, it's not a pleasant thing to hear.

If I really intended to do it, I would have sent it to WST without telling him. Telling him means I don't plan to do it immediately.

Under normal circumstances, he would have easily realized this, but now he seems unable to think that far.

He must be in a tight spot.

After a moment of silence, he spoke with a trembling voice.

"What do you want from me?"

"As I said yesterday, sell your shares and leave the company. That's what we want."

Rolph shouted, sounding aggrieved.

"CoolCloud is the company I built! Are you trying to take my company from me?"

"Technically, it's a company you started by stealing Mimir. Without Mimir, CoolCloud wouldn't even exist."

Rolph defended himself.

"Even so, I'm the one who grew the company! I've done my part!"

"What have you done?"

"Is starting a company easy? I didn't sleep, I worked on development, I fixed bugs one by one, I hired and managed employees, and I dealt with customers. I dedicated my three years entirely to CoolCloud!"

His points are valid.

If it weren't for him, there wouldn't be a CoolCloud today. I acknowledge his talent as an entrepreneur.

That's why he could become a billionaire at a young age.

"Besides, I poured all my money into it!"

He sold Tinting, a company he started at 20, to Matching Group for 1.2 billion dollars and poured 900 million dollars into CoolCloud.

Considering the money he could have lost in other ventures, it's essentially his entire fortune.

Of course, he believed he could make more than that, and he did.

"Could Jason have done what I did?"

"Probably not."

Unlike Rolph, who started a company before he was fully grown, Jason has never run his own business. Even if he had the business acumen, he wouldn't have had 900 million dollars.

"Think about it. If I hadn't used it, Mimir wouldn't have even existed. It would have been buried and forgotten on some server."

"Hmm..."

It's a valid point, even if it sounds like an excuse.

Because it's not a lie.

Apart from Jason Kim himself, only Rolph Butch knew the value of Mimir. If he hadn't stolen the program, Mimir would have remained dormant on the cloud server forever.

In that case, CoolCloud wouldn't have been created, and Seed would have continued working at TalkIt.

He might not have worked on anything related to CoolCloud, or if he did, he would have used a different program.

Would the emergence of Pangea have been delayed or not happened at all?

Rolph continued to make excuses.

"Besides, Mimir was originally just a trivial program."

Mimir is a deep learning AI program.

CoolCloud has been training this program for three years. If our Mimir is a newborn baby, CoolCloud's Minerva is like a ten-year-old boy.

"It's grown because it met me. If Jason had handled it, it would have been a mediocre program."

"..."

Technically, it grew because it met Seed, but since he gave Mimir to Seed, it's not entirely wrong.

Just like how the same genes can produce different people depending on their upbringing, Mimir met a good caretaker in Seed and grew excellently.

To raise two geniuses in reality, you need twice the effort. In the digital world, you just need to copy.

Mimir will be used in all fields that can be digitized, and everything will be connected through Pangea, opening a new future.

In other words, because Rolph Butch stole his dead friend's program, the future I know was created!

Despite his poor character, he made a significant contribution to the world.

Of course, that doesn't mean his actions are forgivable.

From his excuses, it seems his sense of injustice outweighs his guilt.

"Whatever you say, the fact that you stole Mimir doesn't change. You know that, right?"

"..."

He bit his lip, seemingly at a loss for words.

I waited for him to speak first. The one who is reluctant usually speaks first.

Sure enough, Rolph spoke first.

"What can you do for me if I sell my shares?"

Ideally, I wouldn't want to do anything for him.

But a cornered rat will bite a cat.

If he decides to go all out, I won't have a choice. So, I need to persuade him for now.

"I'll help you avoid prosecution and lawsuits. It wouldn't look good for a Silicon Valley genius to be in and out of the prosecutor's office and courts for stealing a dead friend's program, would it?"

"How much can you pay?"

I mentioned the amount I had thought of.

"1 billion dollars. That seems reasonable."

"What!?"

He was clearly shocked by the unexpected amount.

"Just 1 billion dollars?"

"1 billion dollars isn't a small amount. If you don't do anything foolish, you can spend it lavishly for the rest of your life and still have money left."

"I invested 900 million dollars in CoolCloud!"

"Yes, that's why I offered 1 billion dollars."

I wanted to hit him harder, but if I offered less than his investment, he wouldn't accept it easily. I need to give the impression that he's not losing money.

"Besides, it's even less than the amount you offered last time!"

He owns 31.16% of the company.

Based on the 5 billion dollars offered last time, that's about 1.95 billion dollars.

He probably wanted at least that much.

"In exchange, you'll drop the prosecution and lawsuits. The royalties for unauthorized use alone would be considerable, wouldn't they?"

This is a significant burden for us as well. It means giving up our most important card.

But if we don't do this, he won't transfer his shares.

"Even so, is it reasonable to transfer shares for such a low price?"

If CoolCloud is valued at 10 billion dollars, his shares are worth about 3.1 billion dollars. It's understandable that he feels aggrieved.

"Anyway, if the company goes bankrupt, you'll get nothing. Isn't it better to sell for 1 billion dollars?"

Rolph gritted his teeth.

"Does CoolCloud really think it will go bankrupt without Minerva?"

"What if Seed is gone too?"

"What?"

"If the acquisition fails, I plan to take Seed and all the developers with me."

"Can you really do that? Seed owns 20% of CoolCloud."

"Isn't it better for Seed to create his own company with Mimir than to hold shares in a company that is collapsing under lawsuits and social criticism? And do you know Seed's personality? If he finds out Minerva is a stolen program, he'll likely quit immediately. If Seed leaves, the developers will follow."

"..."

He couldn't say anything.

Having seen Seed closely, he must know his personality well.

In fact, Seed, upon learning the truth, was furious and said he would quit and give up his shares.

Of course, at that time, it was 5% instead of 20%.

"If you don't believe me, shall we call Seed here and ask him?"

Without Mimir and Seed, CoolCloud would be just a shell. Even the shell has considerable value, but...

I told him,

"Even if CoolCloud goes bankrupt, we can create a new company. But for you, it would be the worst outcome."

"Why?"

"Not only will you lose all your investment, but you'll be remembered as the person who stole a dead friend's program and caused the company to fail. Isn't it better to sell your shares and at least get some money?"

Even if I say this, if CoolCloud goes bankrupt, I'll be in the most trouble.

Given the uncertain future due to my involvement, I need to acquire the company as intact as possible.

Alex won't sell his shares at a low price, so I must buy Rolph's shares.

Despite my anxious heart, I maintained a calm expression.

"There is one condition."

"Isn't avoiding prosecution and lawsuits enough?"

"It's not enough."

"Let's hear it."

"Keep the facts about Minerva secret."

"What?"

David looked surprised. I probably looked the same.

"That's a bit difficult."

"Why?"

"When we made the contract, I promised his wife to reveal that the program was developed by Jason Kim."

"Surely that's not written in the contract?"

I shook my head.

"No, it was just a promise."

Rolph looked slightly relieved.

"Thank goodness. If it was just a verbal promise, you don't have to keep it, right?"

"..."

I don't know what to say.

Given his character, it's not surprising that he used his dead friend's program.

David's expression looked like he was trying to hold back a punch. I understand his feelings.