Football Dynasty

Chapter 118: Netscape

DING~

The elevator doors slid open with a soft chime, and Richard stepped in alongside Marina Granovskaia.

"..."

Nana~🎵🎶

An awkward silence settled between them as light, almost comically upbeat elevator music played in the background, making the situation even more surreal.

Richard cleared his throat, trying to break the tension. "Ehem... Miss Marina, have you worked with Mr. Abramovich for a long time?"

Marina, as composed as ever, glanced at Richard with a faint smile and shook her head gently."No, I actually just started not too long ago. My sister was the one who introduced me."

"Ah, I see. Following in the family’s footsteps?"

Marina thought for a moment before replying with a soft chuckle. "Not exactly. I’m working with Mr. Abramovich as part of my thesis—just until I can graduate."

"Ah, so you’re still a student?"

"Almost done," she replied, a little sheepishly. "Just one more paper to go."

The tension in the elevator slowly melted into easy conversation. They began talking more freely, and Richard found himself learning bits and pieces about her.

Current Marina Granovskaia had studied at the Faculty of Foreign Languages at Moscow State University—bright, well-spoken, and clearly thoughtful. Her older sister had introduced her to Roman Abramovich, which led to this internship-like role at Sibneft.

Richard nodded quietly to himself. The future Iron Lady of football—cool-headed, formidable—wasn’t quite there yet. But even now, something in her calm, unshaken poise stood out.

When the elevator opened, both of them stepped out into the underground parking lot and headed toward a sleek black G-Wagon.

Marina had been assigned to escort Richard to his hotel.

Richard opened the door on his side but paused before getting in. "Miss Marina—by the way, could you drop me off in Mountain View first before heading to the hotel?"

Marina glanced at him with a hint of curiosity. "You have business there?" she asked, then quickly realized how forward she sounded. "Ah—I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to be intrusive."

Richard let out a small laugh, waving it off. "It’s alright, don’t worry. Just a small visit to tie up a few things. I promise I won’t take long."

She gave a polite nod, slipping behind the wheel. "Of course. Just point me in the right direction."

As the G-Wagon pulled out of the garage and into the quiet city streets, Richard leaned back in his seat, eyes on the skyline.

An idea was forming in his mind.

This was Richard’s final stop in the United States—and possibly his last investment on American soil.

Originally, he had placed his hopes in Yahoo, betting on its potential to soar so he could eventually cash out his shares for a solid return. But to his disappointment, the company still felt more like a glorified directory than a serious tech powerhouse.

With no other choice, he shifted his focus to another internet browser company: Netscape, one of the twin pillars of the dot-com boom.

If Cisco represented the peak of the bubble, then together, Netscape and Yahoo! were the two companies that sparked the revolution, introducing the internet to the masses—igniting the global dot-com frenzy.

Just imagining the potential profits from both IPOs brought a smile to his face. By rough estimates, he could walk away with at least two billion.

Richard was determined. No matter the cost, this was an opportunity he absolutely had to seize. These two pillars were too important to miss.

Richard and Marina sat at one of the tables in a quiet restaurant. Richard placed his laptop on the table and opened it, catching Marina’s curious gaze.

"What’s that on your computer?" Marina asked, blurting out the question as something on the screen caught her attention.

Richard gave her a puzzled look. "What are you talking about?"

"That one," she pointed at the screen, where a globe encircled by a curved line was displayed—symbolizing the browser’s role in connecting the world through the internet.

"Oh, this?" Richard replied casually. "That’s the Mosaic web browser."

"Why?" he added, "You recognize it?"

She nodded. "Mr. Abramovich always uses it for work."

’As expected of Abramovich,’ Richard thought. If it weren’t for the fact that they were separated by continents—he would’ve already launched an attack on Mosaic.

"It’s just the internet. A tool to browse stuff and all that," Richard explained casually.

"But this one feels different, doesn’t it?" Marina said, still eyeing the screen. "There are a lot of browsers out there now, but this one... feels unique."

At the time, the internet, computers, and laptops were still rare—mainly limited to large corporations and universities. And even then, not all of them had Mosaic installed. She only knew about it because she once saw Abramovich tweaking his laptop, playing around with Mosaic.

"Oh, you’re not wrong," Richard said, clicking through a few pages. "Unlike older browsers that only display text, Mosaic can show background images and other graphics. Plus, you can use hyperlinks to jump between pages with a single click. That’s probably why Mr. Abramovich likes it."

He clicked again, demonstrating the browser’s features.

Mosaic—the first graphical web browser—was nothing short of revolutionary. In many ways, it was the ancestor of modern browsers like Google Chrome, Mozilla Firefox, Opera, and others. A simple interface, but a monumental leap forward.

Soon, the door to the restaurant opened, and two people walked in—the very ones Richard had been waiting for.

Jim Clark, the visionary founder, and Marc Andreessen, the brilliant co-founder who helped turn the idea into reality. But today, both looked utterly exhausted. Their eyes were dark and heavy—give them pillows, and they’d probably fall asleep right then and there.

And Richard knew exactly why.

The NCSA—the National Center for Supercomputing Applications—was a public research institute founded by the National Science Foundation, working alongside universities to develop programs for public use. Mosaic was one of its flagship creations.

Most people assumed the Mosaic web browser was entirely a product of the NCSA. But they were wrong.

"If they’ve agreed to meet with me," Richard said quietly, leaning closer to Marina, "then it probably means they’re getting ready to leave NCSA."

Marina blinked, surprised. She leaned in and whispered back, "Why? Didn’t you say their browser’s a massive hit? Two million users already—why walk away from that?"

"That’s exactly the problem."

"What do you mean?"

"It’s causing issues because it’s doing so well."

"That doesn’t make any sense." 𝚏𝐫𝚎𝗲𝕨𝐞𝐛𝕟𝚘𝐯𝚎𝗹.𝕔𝐨𝗺

Richard glanced at "the future Iron Lady" before finally explaining, "What do you think happens when a student researcher who hasn’t even graduated yet creates a web browser that suddenly takes all the spotlight?"

He turned his head slightly, eyes following the two men as they approached. "Of course, that’s bound to rub some people the wrong way."

Marina’s eyes widened. "Wait... you mean they created Mosaic?!"

Richard nodded. "Jim Clark—the man on the left—he’s the one who made it all happen. From what I heard, they offered him a full-time researcher position after graduation... but only if he stepped away from the browser project."

"So, they’re trying to push him out?"

"Exactly. And it gets more absurd. When he protested, do you know what the NCSA said?"

"What?" Marina leaned in, clearly intrigued.

For some reason, she had always been drawn to business politics like this. Maybe it was just in her blood—a sign of the sharp instincts that would one day make her a master of player recruitment.

"They claimed that since Mosaic was developed using NCSA’s resources and people, it wasn’t his—it belonged to the organization. Too high-quality to be a solo project" Richard mused.

"That’s outrageous."

"True. It’s a job offer in name only. They’re practically telling him to leave as NCSA holds all the rights to Mosaic."

"Exactly," Marina agreed with Richard, then continued, "If I were in his shoes, I’d quit too—just out of sheer frustration."

Given that it was his idea and he had led the development, NCSA’s response was nothing short of infuriating.

Richard smiled at this. He almost felt thankful to NCSA for being so shortsighted and petty as to alienate them.

’This is incredibly unfair and infuriating for them’, he thought, ’but for me, it’s a golden opportunity.’

"The fools at NCSA who are pushing him out will regret it someday—mark my words," Richard said.

"Does he have any specific plans?"

Richard shrugged. "Probably thinking about heading to Silicon Valley to start fresh."

Nodding slightly, Marina replied, "Well, he’s the genius behind the wildly popular Mosaic web browser, so I’m sure companies will be lining up with great offers—"

She stopped mid-sentence as something clicked in her mind. She remembered what Richard had said earlier.

"You want to invest in their new company?!"

"Of course. If I weren’t serious, why else would I have stayed in the United States for two months waiting for them?"

"But starting a company will take more than just two people. It’s going to require a lot of manpower—and serious funding."

Richard simply smiled. "And I have the money," he said confidently. Then he stood up and extended his hand toward the two newcomers.

"At last, you accepted my invitation. My name is Richard Maddox, and I’m very interested in your next project—Netscape."