Even I sometimes find it hard to believe, but I’m a major shareholder with a significant stake in Microsoft.

Honestly, not buying it would’ve been strange. Wasn’t there a claim that if Bill Gates hadn’t sold off some of his shares, his net worth would have exceeded a quadrillion won by simple calculation?

‘Of course, that’s a completely unrealistic assumption...’

But really, instead of shorting stocks or borrowing money from here and there to start a business, just owning one solid stock is a far wiser investment.

It takes less time, and in the meantime, you can do other things. Just let other geniuses work their magic and raise the stock price, while you, the shareholder, reap the rewards for simply putting up the initial capital.

...The only problem is that I happen to be one of those sucker “geniuses.”

***

Was it a few months ago? I remember hearing something at the Windows Korea branch.

“Hngh, Windows 95 is great. Really, it’s great... but this thing crashes into a blue screen way too often.”

Hearing the familiar name, I nodded. I knew all too well about Windows’ infamous Blue Screen of Death.

‘I got hit by that plenty back in the day.’

In my previous life, I was an orphan, so I grew up quite removed from cutting-edge tech. Most school computers back then ran either 95 or 98, if you were lucky.

“And ➤ NоvеⅠight ➤ (Read more on our source) the fix is still the same, right?”

“...Yes. Just a moment, please. I’ll have to uninstall and reinstall it.”

I understood—but that didn’t make it any less irritating. How dare they make a young miss wait?

Feeling a bit annoyed, I asked President Song:

“Are you not planning on fixing this? There’ll be an uproar when it's released.”

“Well, they are trying at headquarters, but... they say it’s difficult. And honestly, even if it’s released as is...”

“It can’t be helped. This thing is amazing enough to overlook that minor inconvenience.”

I got it.

Hah, let these guys enjoy the taste of this wretched blue screen for themselves.

Fix it because it’s inconvenient? Hah. From a rational business perspective, that’s actually a terrible move.

No, the real play is to let people suffer a bit now and then dramatically reduce the crash frequency later—as if you’ve just revolutionized the product.

.

.

.

Yeah.

I got it.

But then, on a day I was casually playing Defect Slayer at school—as part of a game update-slash-hobby...

A sinister buzz flickered across the screen before it froze.

“...No way. Again? I was finally lucky enough to get this compressed deck—am I seriously about to lose it?”

Having access to PC games on Windows 95 before everyone else had started to warp my perspective... I mean, I’d just drawn both the Pipe and the Pandora’s Box combo and finally pulled off a solid compression, only to die now?

This—this can’t be right. There’s no way something like this should happen just from playing a game. What kind of game has its highest player death rate caused by the Blue Screen instead of the final boss?

No way other people endured this. Am I doing something wrong?

But just as I tried to mentally escape from reality, that all-too-familiar blue screen appeared again.

“You, you fuc—king shitty blue screen!!”

—BAM!!!

My arm trembled with rage. I hadn’t felt such raw emotion since the days I was trapped in a tiny desk drawer as a child, writhing all day long.

Back then, it was fear. But now—this was pure, seething fury.

“...Miss, are you okay?”

My tiny, flushed fist was clenched tight. Even after slamming my desk like a shotgun, the adrenaline had numbed the pain completely. My mind felt broken, endlessly pumping out feel-good chemicals.

“Huh? Ahaha, I’m fine. Totally fine...”

I grit my teeth. If there were a punching bag nearby—say, Si-hyun on day zero of ‘not betraying me’—this would’ve been the perfect moment.

“Hic...”

Seo Ji-yeon, sensing the tension, hugged her own shoulders.

“It’s okay. I’m not mad at you, Ji-yeon. Though really, with how shitty this game is, you should’ve tested it first and warned me. But if my Ji-yeon was lazy, that’s my fault, yeah.”

“...You’re the one who made this shitty game...”

Didn’t hear that. Nope.

Sigh, calm down. I’m a good mistress. I can’t just start swinging golf clubs at poor Ji-yeon. Might knock a few IQ points loose.

“Ugh, is there no one with a strong jaw around? I swear, someone out there must be dying to get hit by me.”

Maybe I should go beat up that junior who tried to touch me the other day.

“Um, Miss... couldn’t you just... fix the Blue Screen problem?”

...What a ridiculous thing to say.

—Thud.

I lightly jabbed Ji-yeon’s soft belly with my fist and frowned.

“What? How am I supposed to fix it? Not even Bill Gates could do that.”

“Ugh! Hup... whew. B-but you’re a genius, Miss. I thought maybe you could pull it off.”

“...”

...Am I?

After a brief pause, I remembered something.

‘It was definitely a driver issue, if I recall...’

I kind of knew the cause, so maybe if I dug around for a few days and just handed them a fix, it might work out.

“Hm. Yeah. I think I can manage it.”

“Wait—then why did you hit me?!”

Ji-yeon, eyes wide with betrayal, protested.

“Hmm... sorry? Want to hit me back? Ah, no, that’s a bit much... I’ll knock off a future punishment instead.”

Getting hit by her when her eyes are on fire like that might actually hurt. Yoo Ha-yeon is very sensitive. If I’m not careful, I might end up with a weird new kink or something.

***

A few days later, at Pigmalion Soft.

I was being showered with praise by a staff member dispatched from Microsoft HQ.

“...”

“Ha ha, you’re incredible. To just glance at unstable Windows and fix it like that... I’ve heard your name before, but now I really understand why the major shareholder has such a reputation.”

I was exhausted from pouring time into something I considered beneath me, but since I was already in deep, I decided to milk it.

“Well, if I weren’t good at coding, I wouldn’t have invested in Microsoft in the first place. ‘You only see what you understand,’ as they say. I just got annoyed while testing something and dug in, that’s all.”

“Wow, you’re so humble. You have no idea how much we’ve struggled with that infamous Blue Screen. Oh, and you probably don’t know this, but the issue came from suddenly switching to 32-bit—it messed up compatibility...”

Lisa scowled when she heard that.

“Humble? Her?”

Thankfully, it was in Korean, so the MS rep didn’t catch it.

“...There were a lot of voices internally saying we should fix this before launch. Thanks to your help, we’ll probably be able to move up the release date.”

That caught my attention.

“You’re moving up the release? By how much?”

“Uh... about a month? We’ll contact HQ if that causes any problems.”

“Oh, no, it’s fine. That’s great news. Progress in the IT industry is always a joy.”

Smiling brightly, I quietly let out a breath of relief.

At least it wasn’t all for nothing.

***

And then, July 27th, 1995.

“...Hrk!”

I jolted awake from a tiny nightmare. The former secretary who’d been keeping me company during the night (not like that) rubbed his eyes and asked cautiously:

“...Shall I bring you some water?”

“No, it’s fine. It was just... a bad dream.”

To be precise, it wasn’t a dream but a vivid memory.

Maybe I got too angry about the Blue Screen a few months ago. Even though I fixed it, I still dream about getting hit by it while using my computer.

“Don’t worry about it. Something good happened in the dream too. The ending was... thrilling, at least.”

“...?”

The dream ended with Gates himself sending me a personal thank-you email. So maybe calling it a nightmare isn’t quite right.

I was so happy then that it’s still etched in my memory. That email should still be in my inbox.

“Ugh. Still, dreams suck.”

Anything I can’t control is awful. That’s why, aside from lucid ones, I classify almost all dreams as nightmares.

And because of that, I sometimes end up dragging someone into my bed just so I can sleep.

“Then... will you go back to sleep? It’s almost Yelizaveta’s shift...”

The senior glanced at the clock. I guess his eyes were used to the dark by now—he could see the time just fine.

I shook my head and kicked off the covers.

“No, since I’m up, might as well work. You go wash your face and come out.”

—Click.

I flipped on the lights and smiled playfully. His eyes filled with despair.

“...Ah.”

Still grinning, I slipped my negligee halfway off my body.

—Flick flick.

“What? Am I too beautiful for you to handle? Tell Liza to get my bathwater ready. And wake up my driver. And prep breakfast.”

Still unused to my routine, he blinked in disbelief.

“It’s... 3 AM...”

Tsk tsk. If it were Seo Ji-yeon, she’d be grumbling while already preparing my bath and sorting out my underwear.

This is why newbies don’t cut it.

“Four hours of sleep. Perfect timing for a trip to America.”

Time to work.