Takuya Nakayama rubbed the sore spot on his back where Tom had slapped him, shot him a helpless look, and walked toward the whiteboard.
He picked up a marker and drew three circles.
In the first one, he wrote "User Traffic", pointing toward the Computer Science board still erupting in fierce arguments.
In the second, he wrote "Industry Value", gesturing to the Industry board where deep technical exchanges were already taking shape.
Finally, he pressed the tip of the marker hard into the third circle and wrote four bold characters:
Capital Convergence
Then he pointed to the Startups & VC board—the one that had just given birth to its very first potential deal.
He drew three arrows, connecting the circles into a perfect closed loop.
"Arguments bring attention.
Attention accumulates value.
Capital chases value."
Nakayama's voice wasn't loud, but every person in the room heard it clearly.
"When all three wheels begin turning, Silicon Valley Online BBS becomes the signature of Silicon Valley itself."
He turned, sweeping his gaze across the faces flushed with excitement and adrenaline.
Tom Kalinske's smile slowly faded.
He looked at the closed loop on the board, then at the impossibly young Eastern man beside him—his expression growing heavier, deeper.
In that moment, he realized:
From the very beginning, he had underestimated Takuya Nakayama's ambition.
This wasn't some small extension of SEGA's gaming division.
This might very well be Nakayama's true ambition in Silicon Valley.
"Takuya—" Tom's voice was slightly hoarse. "This 'Silicon Valley Online'… what is it to you?"
Nakayama lowered the pen, met all the watching eyes, and smiled faintly.
"Tom, I already told you."
"This is only the beginning of the Internet tidal wave."
He paused, then turned toward the administrative staff standing in the back.
"Did you get all the photos for today?"
"All taken, Executive Director!" the staffer responded immediately.
Takuya nodded, then looked back at Tom.
"I'll leave the media arrangements to you."
"You don't need to tell me twice," Tom laughed, flashing an OK sign.
---
The next morning, when Section Chief Nohara and the others dragged themselves into the office with dark circles and coffee in hand, Harry rushed in, waving several newspapers.
"Front page! We made the front page!"
He slapped a copy of the Los Angeles Times onto the conference table.
A massive headline dominated half the tech section:
"Silicon Valley Online: A New Era of the Internet."
"Listen to this!" Harry cleared his throat and read in an exaggerated theatrical voice:
"The reporter interviewed a Stanford Computer Science PhD, who declared:
'Emacs users are a bunch of self-important blowhards who need a bloated program to feel smart. Vi is pure, efficient, and beautiful philosophy!'
Hahaha! These nerds!"
He doubled over laughing.
The American engineers joined in, roaring.
Nohara and the Japanese staff leaned in to look.
Seeing the heated, fully quoted comments printed word-for-word in the newspaper left them with complicated expressions.
"Executive Director… they really printed… the flame war?" Nohara whispered.
"Nohara-san, arguments mean heat. And heat is the best PR."
Nakayama took a sip of coffee, serene as ever.
Harry flipped to another page and jabbed at an article from the San Jose Mercury News, noticeably more serious.
"Look at this! They interviewed a Berkeley professor!" Harry's voice rose with excitement.
"The professor says the discussions in 'Industry' are incredibly high-level. He's already exchanged views with an engineer from Sun Microsystems on SPARC optimization—says it's more efficient than any academic conference!"
Then the article shifted tone—toward the topic everyone in the room was secretly waiting for.
"The most eye-catching development is the birth of the 'Startups & VC' board," Harry said dramatically.
"On the very first afternoon, a startup project called 'TaWiz' posted a funding request.
Minutes later—Sequoia Capital and KPCB responded!"
He sucked in a deep breath and read the conclusion aloud, one word at a time:
"A brand-new online ecosystem is emerging. The sharks of capital have already smelled blood. Silicon Valley Online may become the first great name to define the 1990s."
Harry kept acting out the nerdy quotes from the newspaper, sending the entire office into waves of laughter.
The atmosphere was like they had just won a decisive battle.
But the uproar came to an abrupt halt when Tom Kalinske walked in.
He wasn't holding a local paper.
He carried a neatly folded newspaper printed on premium stock—
and he wasn't smiling.
He stopped at the conference table and snapped it open.
The Wall Street Journal.
Those five words were like a silent command—
the office fell completely still.
Everyone's eyes locked onto the paper.
This wasn't the tech section.
This was the front-page business commentary.
The headline was calm yet profound:
"The Internet Catalyst: How Silicon Valley Online BBS Is Reshaping the Venture Capital Landscape."
Tom tapped a firm finger on the opening paragraph.
"They didn't mention the editor war.
They didn't mention the OS flame war."
His voice was low—nothing like his usual booming confidence.
"They only care about one thing."
Everyone held their breath.
Harry leaned in and read aloud:
"The article focuses on the 'TaWiz' project posted yesterday afternoon. The columnist argues that with PCs becoming increasingly mainstream, the computing industry is already on a high-speed track.
And the Internet—especially efficient information platforms like Silicon Valley Online—will act as an unprecedented turbocharger for this accelerating machine."
Harry's voice wavered.
He swallowed and continued, speaking faster and faster:
"The Wall Street Journal analyzes our user base in detail—top university faculty and students, core engineers from major tech companies, researchers from national labs. They call it:
'A highly concentrated, immeasurably valuable intellectual gold mine.'"
"The article cites the SPARC architecture discussion in the 'Industry' board, calling it 'a zero-cost, top-tier technical symposium.'
And then—it cuts straight to the heart—"
Please Support me by becoming my patreon member and get 30+ chapters.
[email protected]/Ajal69
change @ with a
Thank You to Those who joined my Patreon